Blog & News

Classic Copyright Cases – De La Soul

And he’s back at it again with another Classic Copyright Case to feast your eyes on. This time round I have the pleasure of discussing a legal case in the…

Fabrics can be protected by copyright in the UK

In a recent case the UK court ruled that fabric design can be protected by copyright as a work of artistic craftsmanship and the sale of clothes made from such…

Copyright and copy… wrong

An often overlooked fact about copyright is that it’s all down to good admin. I know admin might not be the most exciting thing to read about but give it…

The value of a Trade Mark

You may have seen that McDonalds have now launched their Big Mac® sauce as a separate condiment, which I hope that I am not alone in the pure feeling of…

Confused or likely to be confused?

In the world of trade marks “confusion” is a big thing. Well actually it’s the “likelihood of confusion” that’s a big thing, actual confusion isn’t actually required – confused? Yes,…

Gin, Vera Lynn and a Timely Trade Mark Win

On 14 July 2019, the Liverpool based drinks company Halewood International Brands applied to trade mark “VERA LYNN” for alcoholic beverages (the Application). Upon being alerted to the Application via…

IP Rights and Contracts after 1 January 2021. Time to Prepare

The UK left the EU on 31st January 2020. We are now in a transition period and for most businesses things will look and be the same as they have…

UK says No to Art 13 of the Copyright Directive

In what is perhaps an indication of the shape of things to come when we try and predict what divergence there will be between EU and UK laws in future,…

Franchising 101: Step 1: Protect your Brand

When you think of the word “franchise” what comes to mind? Most people will have an understanding of what a franchise is, and many individuals have aspirations of seeing their…

Sony files trade mark for PS5

Earlier this week Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony) filed a trade mark application for “PS5” in Switzerland signalling the forthcoming launch of the fifth version of the world famous PlayStation…

Influencers, Instagram and a Pretty Little Problem

The rise of the Influencer The cast of Love Island are used to being in the press for a number of reasons, not least because of the large amounts of…

Get rid of that libellous post and while you are at it anything else with an equivalent meaning!

Does Facebook, or other social media platforms, have an obligation not just to delete defamatory posts, but other posts with an equivalent meaning? This was a question that the European…

Tiffany wins an opposition against UK beautician

Back in 2018 Tiffany Parmar applied to register a UK trade mark for ‘Cotswold Lashes by Tiffany’, covering class 3 (cosmetics), class 41 (beauty school services) and class 44 (beauty…

Classic Copyright Cases – Blurred Lines

As I am sure you will all be delighted to hear, I have decided to begin writing a series of articles covering landmark music copyright lawsuits. First up to bat…

Proof of use, proof of what

Owners of registered trade marks in the UK and EU have to use their trade mark if they want to be able to enforce it. That being said, there is…

Big blow or lucky escape?

An investigation led by the ICO found that an attacker installed malware on 5,390 tills at Currys, PC World and Dixons Travel stores between July 2017 and April 2018, collecting…

Harry and Meghan’s defamation battle

Following the news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are stepping back as members of the Royal Family, you could be forgiven for thinking that recent media coverage reads like…

Disney brings Christmas Cheer

Readers of my blog will know that one of my pet subjects is the extent to which big business responds to infringements. Often I have called out what I see…

Kylie Minogue v Kylie Jenner

I think it is safe to say we all know who Kylie Minogue is. She is responsible for such undisputed bangers as Love At First Sight and Can’t Get You…

Who owns the copyright of work created by AI?

Copyright protection arises automatically in literary, dramatic, artistic and musical works, and is an extremely useful intellectual property right. The author of a copyright work is the person who created…

TuneIn thoroughly WARNERED!

As you may know, Warner Music and Sony Music had jointly brought a claim against TuneIn for copyright infringement. TuneIn is a service that enables consumers to access more than…

Foreign Language Words as Trade Marks in the UK and EU

Over the last decade a growing number of overseas businesses have been expanding into the UK and EU, and a lot of them are targeting the nationals of their countries…

EUIPO: trade mark licencing brings significant revenue for SMEs

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has released its recent study looking into SMEs and trade mark licencing. The figures are staggering! The survey has shown that the estimated…

Electioneering and copyright infringement

In the olden days parties campaigned by knocking on doors, holding rallies and sending endless bits of paper to voters. But, what this latest election has shown us, apart from…