Knowledge Hub

EU Copyright Directive will not be implemented in UK, Partner Dan Byrne reports The UK Government has confirmed[1] that, because of the date on which the UK is to leave the EU and the length of the transition period, it will not be required to implement the EU Copyright Directive (2019/790) and that it has… Read more »

The dawn of a new era – Brexit becomes a reality   After completion of all necessary legislative stages in the UK, the EU Withdrawal Agreement has now been signed on behalf of the EU and by the UK Prime Minister.  All that remains is for the Agreement to be formally ratified by the European… Read more »

Tackling the stigma of disability in IP: exclusive interview with IP Ability co-chairs This article is a summary of the full article, by the same name, first posted by the World Trade Mark review, that can be found here.   Marianne Privett, AA Thornton’s Diversity & Inclusion Partner, and Francesca Rivers a Solicitor at Cancer… Read more »

AA Thornton welcomes Formalities Officer from the EPOs placement programme ‘Praktika Extern’ We were delighted to welcome Kamila Miklos, a Formalities Officer from the European Patent Office (EPO) Hague office to our office this week as part of our ongoing support of the EPOs placement programme ‘Praktika Extern’. In previous years we have hosted EPO… Read more »

AA Thornton Barrister Daniel Byrne provides an insight with Joshy Thomas, Lexis®PSL IP on running an IP dispute   In this podcast Daniel Byrne, AA Thornton and Joshy Thomas, Lexis®PSL IP provide an insight into running an IP dispute covering initial analysis of the dispute together with strategic considerations and initial actions to be taken… Read more »

Retail team member Sarah Neil reviews a recent UK IPO decision which assesses what kind of use is sufficient to make a party the ‘senior user’ of a mark. The matter started in early 2014 when ABP Technology Limited (“ABP”) developed a range of Virtual Reality headsets under the mark STEALTH VR and began promoting… Read more »

Partner and Retail team member Ian Gill gives a short insight into defending WowWee’s rights against Chinese applicants Visit our youtube channel for more videos like this. If you are unable to view the video above, below is an accessible version: Those with young children will likely have heard of Fingerlings, but for those who have… Read more »

Senior Associate and Trade Mark Attorney Louise Foster reports on the ROCK CITY opposition in the October / November issue of the CITMA Review This article was first published in the October / November issue of the CITMA Review   O/363/19, ROCK CITY (Opposition), UK IPO, 1st July 2019 On 21st January 2015, White Outline… Read more »

Solicitor Varuni Paranavitane reports on the recent Nintendo v Sky UK Ltd website blocking injunction The High Court has recently required major UK ISPs to block certain websites which infringed Nintendo’s intellectual property rights. In seeking the injunction, Nintendo relied on trade mark rights, as was the case in Cartier2, but also relied on the… Read more »

This is a concise summary of a talk on House Marks given by Ian Gill to the FICPI Open Forum meeting in Vienna on 10 October 2019   The brief for this talk was challenging – Alongside other speakers from different regions I was asked to consider questions such as: What is the difference between… Read more »