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What is a "Comparable Right"? At "Brexit", the EUIPO took steps to withdraw the representational rights of all non-EU based representatives. On 1st January 2021, all registered EU trade marks and Community designs were "cloned" and re-registered, creating new and independent comparable UK trade mark registrations and comparable UK registered designs. These comparable rights were automatically entered on the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) register and must now be managed separately and renewed at the appropriate dates by…
Customs can help fight counterfeiting by detaining goods suspected of infringing intellectual property rights. To ask customs to take action, IP right owners need to lodge an Application for Action or AFA. Before Brexit, two types of AFAs provided protection in the UK, namely: national AFAs and EU-wide AFAs. But since 1 January 2021, EU AFAs granted before the end of the Transition Period no longer have the same scope. Depending on where the EU AFA was granted, the Application…
(Updated 3rd July 2020) Following its regular review since 24th March of this year the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has now brought an end to the application of automatic extensions to all deadlines that had fallen on “interrupted” days. The system of interrupted days has been in direct response to the Coronavirus and its impact on businesses addressing matters before the UKIPO. Consequently, it has been announced that the sequence of interrupted days will cease as from 29th July…
Introduction On 29 April 2020, the High Court issued a decision that use of the trade mark SKYKICK in the UK infringed Sky Plc’s registrations for the mark SKY. While the finding of infringement is not especially noteworthy in itself, the decision is of great significance to brand owners in general and their representatives as explained below. Background Sky Plc, the well known television broadcaster, sued SkyKick UK Ltd, a company supplying cloud migration IT services, for trade mark infringement…
Patent attorneys in the UK are reporting a significant increase in requests for advice and assistance in protecting new inventions over recent months. This is being attributed by some to the coronavirus (Covid-19) lockdown in the UK and it seems likely that there are several possible reasons for the apparent surge in inventive activity:- a) The lockdown has resulted in a large number of people working from home, many of them doing so for the first time. It is therefore…
The global Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is having an impact on us all to a certain degree. SH&P is committed to maintaining the health and welfare of its staff and to minimising any disruption of our services. The UK Government moved from a state of containment to one of delay and we are now in the midst of a "lockdown". The Government's official approach and guidance to individuals and businesses will evolve rapidly over the coming weeks. SH&P will continue to…
Chocolate battles won and lost, but the war is not over... If you asked someone to imagine Cadbury chocolate, most people would immediately think of the purple packaging. The iconic purple hue, registered as a trade mark for the shade Pantone 2685C since 1995, has been the confectionery giant’s signature colour for decades. The “Dairy Milk” product is just one example of this. However, despite Cadbury’s established rights in the purple colour variant there has been a long-running “chocolate war”…
It's Supermac's 1 – 1 McDonald's, but we're not done yet in this burger trade mark case... Most people (other than vegetarians of course) have enjoyed a McDonald’s “Big Mac” or two in their lives. The burger seems to have been around for ever. You would probably find it surprising therefore that McDonald’s have recently lost their trade mark protection for the words BIG MAC in the European Union. Not only that, McDonald’s lost their trade mark registration because they could not…
As the second anniversary of the EU Referendum result approaches, it is debatable whether any tangible progress has been made during negotiations. The mainstream media is never short of reporting triumphs and failures. It largely depends on who is doing the reporting. One person’s victory is another’s defeat. This was always going to be the case on such a finely balanced and divisive topic. It remains to be seen what opportunities Brexit will bring. In the meantime, businesses have no…
A leading international wholesaler is counting the cost of an ill-judged product launch. Costco is well known for its huge warehouses stocking anything from sandwiches to speedboats. In its US outlets, members were able to purchase diamond rings marked Tiffany via the jewellery counter. However, budding George Peppards and Audrey Hepburns may have been left disappointed as the rings themselves were not manufactured by world renowned jeweller Tiffany & Co. Costco argued that solitaire diamond rings of this type have…