Intellectual Property

EU’ll DO NOTHIN’!

McGregor V…McGregor and the importance of Mediation and Co-Existence Agreements in Exploiting Your Brand.  A recent decision of the European Union Intellectual Property Office has beaten down an application by…

NFTs, Christmas and Melania Trump

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique digital files (e.g. images, video etc.) registered on a blockchain. The system of creating, registering and selling NFTs is designed in such a way…

How to resolve domain disputes

Domain disputes are what they say on the tin, a dispute relating to the ownership of a domain name. Domain names are key in any business given a likely first…

Company Names and Trade Marks

It is a common misconception that registering a company name with the Companies House provides unrestricted rights to such company name. In reality, the registered company name identifies a legal…

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…

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…

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…

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…

IP, Counterfeiting and the Blockchain

With the advent of globalisation on a mass scale in the 1990s, coinciding with the fall of the USSR and the rapid development of emerging economies in Asia, Africa and…

How Do I Exploit My Intellectual Property?

Owning and protecting a set of intellectual property (IP) rights is one thing but harnessing them for commercial gain is another thing entirely. There are two main options for exploiting…

“Hot Dogs, It’s That Time Again”: Mickey Mouse’s Copyright Expires

Disney’s copyright on its most famous character, Mickey Mouse, is due to expire in 2024 after 95 years, paving the way for anyone to use the iconic figure in ways…

What Is Passing Off?

  Last year, I was wandering around the fields of Glastonbury. It is a slightly different vibe to my day job and it was nice to have a cider in…

Artificial Intelligence and IP Law

This article will discuss artificial intelligence (AI) and how it intertwines with intellectual property law, and the difficulties AI presents for IP law as it becomes more autonomous. We’ll consider…

What is intellectual property?

Intellectual property can be an elusive beast, it is easy to say and impossible to touch, but what exactly is it? The World Intellectual Property Office defines intellectual property (IP)…

Domain Names – Are They Intellectual Property?

Are domain names intellectual property? The quick and easy answer to this question is that domain names are not intellectual property. In this post, we’ll expand a little more on…

The Most Popular Fakes In The World

  Counterfeit products are everywhere. From the tacky, replica football jerseys you find on holiday to pristine copies of handbags, shoes and watches that are near-impossible to tell apart from…

Can you protect your greeting cards?

Greeting cards have long been a tradition in the UK. They serve as tangible memories that can remain with you long after the event that they celebrate or the experience…

How do I protect confidential information?

The Easter Bunny pulled off his annual stunt again on Sunday. Not bad given the global supply chain issues. However, what may seem like a logistical miracle of designing, making,…

Can you copyright a band name?

Here is a question that every aspiring musician asks themselves at one point or another, as did I when sitting on my drum throne (yes, us drummers are musicians too)…