! Please enable JavaScript to view this site correctly.
! You are viewing this site on an outdated browser. Upgrade now to view this site correctly.
Intellectual Property professionals and businesses alike have been waiting to see what the European Patent Office (EPO) will propose in terms of costs for the future European Unitary Patent. Now, a report by the president of the EPO, entitled Proposals for the level of renewal fees for European patents with a unitary effect has been published and sent to the EPO’s supervisory body for comment.* Possible Unitary Patent Fee Structures It is thought that the report contains two possible fee…
Two inventors from the UK have been granted a patent for an innovative food defence system. The Oasis™ Flood Protection System has been designed for easy manufacture and installation and, its inventors say, will change the way people use flood defences around the world. A New Approach to Flood Protection The inventors involved are Eamonn Lee-Barrett and Chris Lee and together they have formed a company to sell their flood defence system – Masika Flood Protection Ltd. The patent grant…
The UK government has passed legislation enforcing the introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco. The plain packaging requirement will come into force in May 2016 after the House of Lords followed the Commons and backed the measure. From May next year, in addition to the health warning, the packaging of cigarette and hand-rolling tobacco must be a uniform brown colour and include only a brand name in a standard size grey typeface. Opposition and the Implications for…
An index compiled by the US Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property (IP) Center has place the UK at number one for IP enforcement. This result is a reflection of the UK’s strong IP legislation which, in the report, is ranked as second only to the USA’s own laws. The report, which considers a variety of factors in both legislation and enforcement, considered the UK system to be robust, although with areas for improvement, which include software piracy – the…
A 13 year-old American boy is thought to be one of the youngest inventors ever to receive funding for an invention. Computing giant Intel has invested in further development of Shubham Banerjee’s Braille printer, which receives electronic text messages, translates them into Braille and then prints the Braille message by embossing it onto paper. Printer Build from Lego Shubham’s original printer was built from a Mindstorms robotic kit Lego, and used a paper-feed system similar to a till roll to…
Supermarket chain Tesco has been refused a trade mark registration for the word Clubcard. Tesco applied to the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) in January 2011, for a trade mark registration for Clubcard as the name of its customer loyalty scheme. The application was refused in December 2013, on the grounds that the word was “devoid of any distinctive character” and was “commonly used by third parties”. Tesco lodged an appeal and which has now been rejected. Trade Mark or…