Blog & News

Samsonite’s 3D EU trade mark application for tablet case rejected

Luggage maker Samsonite (the applicant) has recently had its application for a 3D EU trade mark for the shape of a tablet case rejected due to a lack of distinctiveness.…

Gotta Catch them All

This month Briffa was at EGX, I was a part of a panel which discussed basic IP rights in the gaming industry. Whilst walking amongst all the games and gaming…

Can a functional piece of exercise equipment attract copyright protection?

Traditionally, a functional 3D machine would not have been considered to be protected by copyright as work of artistic craftsmanship, with copyright protection for works of artistic craftsmanship being reserved…

Instagram fined for breaching data protection rules

In May 2018, the GDPR came into force across the EU and many businesses thought the sky would fall. The mammoth piece of EU legislation incorporated, amongst other things, a…

Can You Register An Expired Trade Mark?

A registered trade mark gives the proprietor a monopoly right to use the mark and to stop third parties from using or registering identical or similar marks in identical or…

I have found a new registered company with the same name as me, what can I do?

Introduction  Companies House is a public register which is freely accessible for anyone to search.  If one day you find that a new company has registered itself as the same…

When to Rebrand – It’s Not for Evri-one

You may have noticed a new player in the parcel game, Evri. It seems to have appeared out of nowhere, being listed as a key courier for most well-known retailers…

How To Buy A Trade Mark

A trade mark is a piece of property and, like all other property, it can be bought and sold. In fact, a trade mark is one of the most valuable…

Briffa at EGX 2022

This week we had the pleasure of attending EGX 2022 at ExCel! Chloé, Alex, and Saad presented a panel on Video Games 101 – a speedrun through intellectual property rights…

Crypto conundrums

In what is surely a first for English law, the High Court in England and Wales recently approved service of pleadings via a so called non-fungible token or ‘NFT’. In…

Diamonds of the season or Thieves of the ton?

Many of our readers may be fans of the smash hit Netflix production “Bridgerton”, a show based on the book series by Julia Quinn. The show’s roaring success has led…

How Do I Sell My Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property (IP) right are great assets for every business, whether it’s trade marks, patents, copyright, design rights or even trade secrets. The most obvious way to harness your IP…

What Can Be Registered As A Trade Mark In Ireland?

Your trade mark’s essential function is to be a badge of origin. It distinguishes your goods or services from those of other undertakings or competitors in the same market, thus…

Del Boy, a privileged fictional character

What differentiates us from a fictional character? One would find this plain interrogation amusing as its obviousness could seem absurd. However, it is in the current century that the border…

Intellectual property blog – NFTs, the metaverse, and how to protect your business’s future

What are NFTs? You may or may not have heard of NFTs before. If you haven’t, it is important to know about them. With the rise of the metaverse and…

Infringing products and unjustified threats: the case of Carku v NOCO

The doctrine of unjustified threats provides protection against a party being threatened unfairly with legal action when there has not actually been any infringement. It is an objective test where…

Copyright conundrums in the film industry

A number of readers may have seen recently the drama involving the popular film franchise ‘Top Gun’: it has nothing to do with shooting but rather some of the slightly…

Can you copyright a colour?

The short answer: no, you cannot copyright a colour. The slightly longer answer: it is possible to exercise monopoly control over the use of colours in certain contexts and circumstances…

How to copyright architectural drawings?

Copyright is a broad and flexible right which protects a range of creative ‘works’ including literary works (such as architectural notes and descriptions), tables, compilations and databases (such as a…

How to copyright my poems?

Are you the next William Shakespeare, Sylvia Plath, Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe, Maya Angelou? Do you want to protect the fruits of your literary, poetic, creative labour? Read on.…

Monster and Red Bull at Dawn

Monster Energy Company produces, as the name would suggest, energy drinks and so does Red Bull. The parties recently met in the High Court in the case of Monster Energy…

Intellectual property and internships

As the heatwaves hit, so did the wave of interns applying for roles in businesses. Whether interns are with you for a few weeks during the summer or on a…

Only Fools and Horses Dining Experience Infringes the Copyright in the ‘Del Boy’ Character

The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court has recently held that an interactive ‘Only Fools The (cushty) Dining Experience’ (OFDE) infringed the copyright in the ‘Del Boy’ character and committed passing off…

What can my trade mark be?

In the world of trade marks, deciding what “mark” to file requires careful consideration. Your decision may severely impact the level of your protection and could cause issues down the…