Home » General Interest (Page 21)
Category Archives: General Interest
The Intellectual Property Bill – registered designs
Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament
In the fourth part of a series on the Intellectual Property Bill, IPCopy summarises the proposals affecting registered design rights and registered Community designs. [This post looks at the IP Bill as originally published. We will revisit the IP Bill at a later date to look at amendments introduced in its passage through Parliament.]
Clauses 5 through 13 of the Intellectual Property Bill relate to Registered Community design or Registered Designs. (more…)
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”.
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…)
The Unitary Patent and the Fee-saving Myth: Time to put that misleading £20,000 figure back in its box, please.
Over at IPCopy, we’re annoyed. Sighs are echoing around the open plan. Hands are being thrown up into the air in despair. Ipcopymark is particularly riled, and had to be placated with a helping of pork pie.
What could have ruffled our collective feathers, I hear you ask? Well, the UKIPO website has a new webpage with details of the UK Intellectual Property Bill. This in itself is not the source of our aggravation (indeed, there is some good juicy stuff to be found there, including a link to a marked-up copy of the proposed changes to legislation, and details of the proposed secondary regulation, which the IPCopy team has been surveying with interest1), but this informative new webpage includes something that really got on our wick.
Eleven of Hearts – Bale’s Trade Mark
Following in the footsteps of other world-class footballers wishing to take advantage of the growing commercialisation of football (or “soccer” for our American friends), Gareth Bale has applied to register his famous heart-shaped goal celebration as a trade mark at the UK Intellectual Property Office. Details of Bale’s application for the word mark ELEVEN OF HEARTS can be found here, while the application for the logo can be found here.
With either a big-money transfer to the King of Spain’s Real Madrid or a large contract-extension in the pipeline, the Tottenham Hotspurs’ Number 11 could be forgiven for rolling over on his bed of £50 notes and going back to sleep. However, given that the average footballer’s career spans around fifteen years, IPcopy would not be surprised to see more and more footballers bringing out their own branded football boots (like Ronaldo’s R9 or Cristiano Ronaldo’s CR7 boots, both released in partnership with Nike) or tiny briefs (à la David Beckham).
As for choosing which trade mark to protect, they would have to go some way to beat the imagination of NBA player Anthony Davis, who spent part of his first pay-check obtaining trade mark protection (“FEAR THE BROW!”) for his prominent uni-brow – check out the brow in his headshot here!
Nick Bowie 18 June 2013
Trade Mark and Carry On (Posters, Trade Marks & the Tardis)
“Trade mark and carry on” is a slogan to bear in mind because, as the following cases illustrate, people often think a name, slogan or even a police box are free to use.
We see a good example with the famous slogan “Keep Calm and Carry On”, which was thought to be owned by the British government. Indeed, “Keep Calm and Carry On” was one of a series of propaganda posters made by the British government during World War 2 to reassure the population, a fact which remained unknown to the public for over half a century. In the early 2000s, a couple (named Manley) who owned the Britsh bookshop “Barter Books” rediscovered the posters in a box of old books.When the booksellers decided to display it in their library, it became very popular. The “Keep Calm” poster was exported worldwide and became one of the first really emblematic images of the 21st century.
IP Hit or Miss? Software Patents in Europe
In a recent article in the Guardian regarding President Obama’s plans to curb the perceived abuse of the patent system by non-practising entities (also known as patent trolls), the author points out that none of the recommendations involve a ban on software patent in the US, stating that:
“Nowhere in the administration’s recommendations is one that already applies in Europe: an outright ban on software patents…”
But is there such an “outright ban” on “software patents” (computer-implemented inventions) in Europe?
Crisis – Square Mile Run 2013 – 13 June 2013
The Stupendous Six from Keltie (Dev, Elena, Katie, Leigh, Adam and Laura) will be taking part in the Square Mile Run on 13 June 2013 to raise money for Crisis and all they are involved in. Please support them as they participate in the Square Mile Run. If you would like to donate then please visit the team page and donate using the ‘Give Now’ button
About Crisis
Crisis is the national charity for single homeless people. We are dedicated to ending homelessness by delivering life-changing services and campaigning for change. Our innovative education, employment, housing and well-being services address individual needs and help people to transform their lives.
What Indonesia needs to do to join the world IP community
Image courtesy of Laura Kehoe
Today on IPcopy we are pleased to welcome guest contributors Prudence Jahja and Andrew Diamond from Januar Jahja & Partners (JJP) who explain the IP challenges facing Indonesia as it prepares to join the ASEAN Economic Community. The article is reproduced with the kind permission of the authors.
One Minute Read
ASEAN member states are set to form the ASEAN Economic Community, a single harmonised market similar to the EU, in 2015. Members of this new union must modernise their IP regimes to comply with specific targets, including accession to the Madrid Protocol and the PCT.
Indonesia, however, faces a number of challenges. It must make both substantive legal changes (including strengthening protection for well-known marks and recognising three-dimensional and sounds marks), as well improve administrative procedures. But with no trade mark legislation on the agenda for 2013, it is unclear whether Indonesia and other ASEAN countries will be able to make all the necessary changes by the December 31 2015 deadline.
IPcopy 
