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Yearly Archives: 2013
Name that IP Right – A Cheat-Sheet
Are you writing about Intellectual Property Rights?
Are you writing about the right Intellectual Property Rights?
Experience suggests there’s a good chance you aren’t (see ipcopymark on this subject here). But don’t worry, IPcopy is here to help! Here’s a handy flow chart you can follow to make sure you don’t get your trade marks confused with your design rights, or your patents confused with your copyright. Run through it if you find yourself about to type a phrase like “Company X have patented the copyright in this technology” or “the manufacturing process infringes Company Y’s trade marks“. And if you’re still stuck, feel free to drop us a line to check!
IP – Hit or Miss? Patenting the socks off of your copyright (TM)
Not another newspaper article about IP! (Image from flickr – Brandon Grasley – source link below)
OK, before we begin, please note that this could turn into a mild rant. There, you’ve been warned.
One of the recurring topics on this blog is the series of articles called “IP – Hit or Miss?” which we use to analyse the representation of intellectual property (IP) in films, TV and the media. We’ve generally focussed on film and TV references but recently I’ve noticed a number of articles in the press where the terms “patent”, “trade mark” and “copyright” have been used seemingly interchangeably. Now come on guys, it’s not that hard to get it right? Is it?
Well, maybe it is. So it’s time to name and shame and then educate. In the words of Popeye “That’s all I can stand, I can’t stands no more”.
Croatia join European Union
Croatia joined the European Union today, 1 July 2013, to become the 28th member state of the union.
Croatia’s accession to the EU has an impact on Community Trade Marks (CTMs), Registered Community Designs and potentially the unitary patent system. (more…)
When is a backlog not a backlog? Joint UK IPO/USPTO research paper published
This is not a pile of paperwork according to the IPO, it’s an “inventory”
The UK IPO and USPTO last week published a working draft report on their joint research effort into the thorny issue of patent backlogs. The UK IPO’s research group ERE has a post about it on their IPO Facto blog.
Before you stifle your yawn, it’s worth noting that the report contains a few unexpected additions to the debate. The first is re-naming “backlogs” as inventories or stocks of applications – they sound better already!
Trade Mark News Bites
It’s time for some trade mark stories that have caught our attention recently – from misleading invoices to “trademark patents” (What are they?) and audio trade marks in China.
The Official Fifteenth Draft Rules of Procedure of The Unified Patent Court – What’s new!
The official (fifteenth) draft of the rules of procedure of the unified patent court has officially been unleashed on the world (take a look here), and the public consultation has now begun. You have until 1 October 2013 to submit your comments to the preparatory committee (details here), so get writing.
IPCopy has produced a tracked-changes version of the draft rules, comparing the newly-released official fifteenth draft, and the previous fourteenth draft, which you can find here. We’ve been combing through the new draft Rules to see what’s of interest.
The unitary patent, an opt-out and a referral to the European Court of Human Rights
Could the proposed unitary patent system result in a referral to the European Court of Human Rights? Bear with me for a second while we fire up the flux capacitor and travel back in time.
It’s now 26 June 2007. Rihanna and Jay-Z are riding high in the charts with Umbrella and it’s a Tuesday. One of your clients comes to discuss the filing of their new patent application in Europe. After explaining the European patent process to your client and lamenting the fact that there’s no way of getting a single patent that covers Europe in some sort of unitary sense, your client instructs you to file a new EP patent application. Being the hyper-efficient patent attorney that you are you get the case on file later that day and settle back to a few months of discussion with the Examiner before the inevitable grant.
Time to jump back in the Delorean and fast forward 9 (!) years.
Unified Patent Court – Rules of Procedure – Consultation Open
In news that seems to have excited me far more than my colleagues who sit next to me, comes the announcement that the public consultation relating to the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court is now up and running. The consultation is open until 1 October 2013 and full details can be found here. The consultation rules draft is here. We also note that the website (www.unified-patent-court.org) contains a wealth of other information including some Questions and Answers about the Unified Patent Court.
We will provide more analysis when we can.
The Fees page is still blank though!
Mark Richardson 25 June 2013
Misleading Invoices: a case study
What do you mean I spent all my pocket money settling a fake invoice?
A while ago we posted an article about misleading invoices that relate to intellectual property rights (patents, designs and trade marks). Here’s a link to that article – Misleading Invoices: a warning.
By way of a quick recap, you will recall that we are talking about communications, that are sometimes received by the owners of IP rights, that resemble official looking invoices for IP services. Such misleading invoices are sent directly to the IP owner and are designed such that they give the impression to the IP owner that they have to either use the service offered or pay the amount listed.
We were recently sent details of the various invoices that one IP owner has received and a quick analysis of the information we’ve seen is quite frightening. (more…)
Unitary patent package – Ratification – Allons-y!
In an earlier post we noted that the French government seemed to be gearing up to be the first EU member state to ratify the Agreement on the Unified Patent Court. Now we’ve been sent (thank you @gibus) a further document that again restates France’s intention to be the first country to ratify the UPC Agreement. Does this mean that IPcopy is finally going to be able to get a player on the pitch in our over-extended and stretched “Ratification as a football match” analogy?
If anyone has further knowledge of the planned ratification timetable in France then please feel free to chime in below.
Mark Richardson 21 June 2013
IPcopy 