Publications

Welcome to our first eBulletin of 2012 where we review policy developments, latest cases and give details of upcoming events.

After many years of argument, the EU has finally all but reached agreement on introducing a truly harmonised EU patent system. However, the new system is being held up by what may seem from a distance to be a somewhat petty squabble about the location of the Court which would deal with disputes arising under the patent.

Mark Owen discusses copyright issues.

On 25 January 2012 the European Commission published its proposals for a comprehensive reform of the EU's data protection laws designed to strengthen online privacy and harmonise data protection rules within the EU.

In December 2011, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment on the latest instalment of the long-running dispute between Wayne Rooney and his former management company, Proactive Sports Management Limited, in relation to an image rights agreement entered into between them in 2003.

Our Intellectual Property Practice provides an update on the latest IP cases and other developments in intellectual property law.

The UK government has launched a consultation on some potentially important changes to UK copyright law. The consultation follows an exhaustive review undertaken by the Hargreaves Committee over the last year.

When can fake goods in transit be detained and destroyed by EU Customs?

The Court of Justice of the EU has given judgment on two joined cases relating to counterfeit goods in transit through the EU.

Two important new Opinions have been given by the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice today (29 November 2011). These will be of particular interest to anyone involved with the protection of trade marks in the EU or the use or protection of computer software.

As soon as the European Court of Justice (CJEU) held in July this year that eBay may be liable if it did not take some proactive steps to prevent infringers trading through its site, questions have been raised over how impregnable statutory safe harbours for other digital service providers really are.

Our Intellectual Property Practice provides an update on the latest IP cases and other developments in intellectual property law.

Have you seen your designs copied and not been able to do anything about it? Are you concerned that your business may be guilty of design infringement? Do you worry about spending money on protecting designs when you are not sure how much protection it is really giving you? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then help is at hand.

.xxx domain registration opened on 7 September 2011. .xxx domains are targeted at operators of adult entertainment businesses. However, there is potential for them to be abused if non adult brands are registered as .xxx domains without the brand owner's permission.

Mark Owen discusses the issues surrounding whether the licensing practices of the Football Association Premier League (FAPL) in the exploitation of its live football matches are compatible with European law, including competition law. An advisory opinion provided to the CJEU by the EU's Advocate General earlier this year (opinions which the Court usually but not invariably follows), has concluded that they are not.

In what will be a setback for most brand-owners, the European Court of Justice has today clarified the circumstances in which bidding on a competitor's brand as a Google Adword may amount to trade mark infringement.

One of the most eagerly awaited court decisions in Europe was handed down yesterday (12 July 2011) by the European Court of Justice. It is likely to be an important decision in clarifying where the balance lies in the liability of online service providers for unauthorised acts which take place over their services.

Partner Mark Owen attended a meeting held at the Houses of Parliament on 20 June 2011, where the UK government indicated that it intended to legislate if necessary to block harmful content online from being made available to children.

In May's edition of Intellectual Property Magazine, Harbottle & Lewis Partner Shireen Peermohamed looks at keyword advertising in the case Interflora v Marks & Spencer.

The Hargeaves Review considers how the national and international IP system can best work to promote innovation and growth. Released today (18 May 2011), Mark Owen of the Intellectual Property Practice takes a first look at the possible outcomes.

In this edition we look at the effect of counterfeits on online trading, and two recent cases regarding trade mark infringements.

We look at how the huge growth in eCommerce has created conflict between rights-owners and online service providers reagrding the sale of counterfeit products.

This Briefing Note looks at the powers of the national Community Trade Mark Courts when dealing with a CTM infringement, focusing on the April 12 decision of the European Court of Justice in DHL v Chronopost.

It has been another unusual year, and although many clients continued to face difficult markets, an increasingly large proportion have been thriving. Has a corner been turned? We don't think so yet - but the signs are encouraging, and we have begun 2011 with great optimism.

Read the Annual Review of our work and achievements from 2010.

In the first trial in the Patents County Court since the Court's new procedural regime came into force, the avant-garde British fashion designer, Dame Vivienne Westwood O.B.E. brought a series of successful claims for trade mark infringement, passing off and copyright infringement against a Manchester-based fashion designer, for what the Court described as a "systematic exploitation of the Claimant's marks".

The long running debate about what goods and services Community Trade Marks (CTMs) cover, when the Class heading is used to define them, rumbles on.

A case comment from the International Sports Law Review regarding the organisers of professional football matches taking the lead in the battle to prevent the unauthorised use of their fixture lists.

Advocate General Cruz Villalon has given his opinion on two joined cases relating to counterfeit goods in transit through the EU. Such goods are able to be moved from place to place within the EU, without being subject to Customs duty, on the basis that their ultimate destination is declared to be outside the EU.

Our Intellectual Property Practice provides an update on the latest IP cases and other developments in intellectual property law. Please click on the individual articles below, or on the title above to view the full eBulletin.

• Toughening Europe Up: EU Commission Wants IP Enforcement Strengthened
• Can a Graphical User Interface be Protected as a Copyright Work?
• Copyright Can Subsist in a Newspaper Headline: the English High Court Follows Infopaq
• EU Court to Consider Jurisdictional Reach of Trade Marks and AdWords
• Football Dataco: All to Play For as Court of Appeal Punts it Off to Europe
• Holy Cow! Injunction for Passing Off of Cowshed Beauty Products Refused

The EU Commission has suggested that IP enforcement procedures and remedies should be made tougher on infringers and more effective for rights-owners.

The ASA Adjudications are essential reading for anyone involved in advertising and marketing, as they are the best guide on trends and how the ASA views particular issues. Over the last couple of weeks, there have been a number of interesting reports.

Our Intellectual Property Practice provides an update on the latest IP cases and other developments in intellectual property law. Please click on the individual articles below, or on the title above to view the full eBulletin.

• County Court Evolves for Smaller IP Claims
• A New Defence of "Abuse of Rights"? Oracle v M-Tech
• All is Revealed, the Unmasking of the Stig
• Opposing a Trade Mark: One Day Less to Do So
• First Case to Consider the Digital Economy Act - From Ireland
• Threatening Users of Your Trade Mark Can be Risky, the Best Buy Case and the Long Arm of English Law

At the risk of suggesting that the Harbottle & Lewis Advertising Group is only interested in one thing, we have been interested to note this week the commentary on Rodial's new Boob Job - a bust enhancing cream that promises to increase women's breasts by half a cup size provided it is used daily for 56 days and, at £125 for a 100ml pot, it better had.

Strict deadlines apply if you want to oppose the registration of a trade mark. If you miss them, there is no second chance. Oppositions are often not filed until the last day for tactical reasons. However, that last day may no longer be the one you think it is.

Deciding whether or not any particular campaign, or any part of it, is likely to offend against this broad principle can often be difficult, because it involves subjective criteria, and an attempt to second guess what the regulators think the public will think.

Just days after we bemoaned the delay, it was formally announced that the digital remit of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is to be significantly extended to improve online consumer protection.

For those who are easily excited by advertising matters, there was an announcement a few months ago that caught our attention. The word was out that the remit of the ASA and the Advertising Codes would soon be extended to cover website content and editorial, rather than just obvious paid for advertising. STOP PRESS: The ASA has announced that the extension will take effect from 1 March 2011.

Our Intellectual Property Practice provides an update on the latest IP cases and other developments in intellectual property law.

Kelly Brook has been busy this month. She has declared August 2010 to be her "naked month". And indeed it is. Her Playboy centrefold will be published, she is captured, naked, in a photo shoot for Love Magazine also out this month, her new movie Piranha 3D will premiere (in which she has a terrifying, naked, encounter with a piranha) and she has appeared naked in an ad which has been unveiled in Battersea.

The Strategic Advisory Board for ­Intellectual Property (Sabip) is, rightly, one of the first quangos to be cut by the ­coalition.

Shireen Peermohamed examines what the Google Louis Vuitton case means for brand owners, advertisers and search engines.

Shireen Peermohamed and Chloe Wright examine judgment in licence tariff case.