News

Automotive patent attorneys Stuart Greenwood and Nikesh Patel attended the Confused.com London Motor Show at Battersea Park on Friday 5 May 2017. They spent the day viewing over 150 vehicles, meeting motoring legends, and catching up on the latest tech innovations. Highlights included learning about cars being designed using virtual reality and speaking to the ‘Stop the crash’ representatives… Read more »

We are thrilled to announce that Partners and Chartered Trademark Attorneys Ian Gill and Vanessa Lawrence, have been recommended in the 2017 edition of the World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000: The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals, in the “prosecution and strategy” category. To suitably reinforce the recommendation, they also received the following client comments: The “practical, commercially oriented advice” dispensed… Read more »

A.A. Thornton & Co. are delighted to announce the appointment of Varuni Paranavitane, Solicitor, who recently joined the firm as an IP Litigation Associate. Varuni joins the firm’s IP Litigation department from Osborne Clarke. She has extensive litigation experience across a range of sectors including pharmaceuticals, video games, medical devices and finance. Varuni has dealt with… Read more »

Article 3 Similarity of goods and services As discussed in the last article in this series, Chinese sub-classification system, in China goods and services are grouped into sub-classes. These sub-classes are important when the Chinese Trade Marks Office or the Trade Marks Review and Adjudication Board (TRAB) needs to make a decision regarding whether goods… Read more »

Luxury fashion brand J. Choo Limited, owner of the internationally desired JIMMY CHOO brand continues its success in its fight against cybersquatting with another favourable decision from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). This decision is the latest in a long line of successful domain name complaints filed by the company. Choo Limited, represented by… Read more »

Article 2 Chinese sub-classification system China adopts the Nice Classification of Goods and Services, but additionally uses a sub-classification system which is unique to China. In China, each of the Nice classes has been further divided into sub-classes of goods or services. The sub-classes are structured according to the features of the goods and services… Read more »

In a decision handed down on Friday 10 February 2017, the UK IPO refused an application of Robert Magill to register the mark “matchedharmony” in relation to “online dating via a website; dating services”. The opposition was filed by A.A. Thornton & Co. on behalf of one of the leading providers of online dating services, eHarmony,… Read more »

On 23 June 2016, the UK carried out a referendum on its membership of the European Union (EU), and the public’s decision was that the UK should leave the EU. This note is to answer some of the initial questions that arise and to provide an update on the likely consequences. The first point to… Read more »

Article 1 Introduction to China Did you know that China’s annual consumption of ice cream would fill 2,344 Olympic-sized swimming pools? Or that China’s annual instant noodle consumption could feed the entire European continent dinner for 52 days? In recent years, China has produced rapid technological advances and has re-established itself as a significant contributor… Read more »

The Legal 500 2016 edition has recently been published and we are delighted that the firm has once again been ranked as a leading firm for both patents and trade marks.   The editorial sections for each of our entries in the directory are reproduced below:  “A.A. Thornton & Co. maintains its position among the elite… Read more »