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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…)
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 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
Trade Mark News Bites
From the the iWatch to the Super Bowl, here’s a collection of trade mark related news stories that have caught our eye in the last couple of weeks.
Unitary patent package – Agreement on a Unified Patent Court republished
The Agreement on a Unified Patent Court was republished yesterday. Those of you priming yourselves to review the agrement for changes can stand down – it’s merely a republication in the Official Journal of the European Union and the only changes are formatting changes!
The final texts of the unitary patent package are therefore:
- Unitary patent regulation – 1257/2012
- Translation regulation – 1260/2012
- Agreement on a Unified Patent Court – 2013/C 175/01
The 15th Draft of the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court has recently been released but a copy is not currently available. The public consultation on the rules is expected shortly and we’ll update IPcopy as soon as we get a copy.
Mark Richardson 21 June 2013
Unitary patent – Presentation from LES Meeting
On the 13th June 2013, the Licensing Executives Society of Britain and Ireland held a meeting entitled “Europe’s New Unified Patent Court – for better or for worse?“. The meeting was chaired by the Rt. Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob and included a number of distinguished speakers associated with the world of IP: Richard Vary (Head of Litigation at Nokia), Arnaud Michel (Gide Loyrette Nouel), Alan Johnson (Bristows) and Ian Wood (Charles Russell). Oh, and me (so an 80% distinguished speaking panel then).
The meeting covered a number of aspects of the proposed Unitary Patent system (or “A European Tragedy” as Sir Robin Jacob put it). My presentation is attached below along with a brief overview of my slides.
IPcopy 