Knowledge Hub

Medical Devices team members, Alex Bone and Marianne Privett report on the 3DMedLive 2019 event held on 2nd and 3rd October 2019. In June 2019 3DMedNet announced that, in partnership with the Journal of 3D Printing in Medicine, they were organising the first ever event aimed at bringing together the many medical practitioners, engineers, technicians,… Read more »

Senior Associate Suzanne Power reports on the Summer 2019 trade mark decisions from the UK and EU in the Pharma and Med Dev sectors. 1. Slogans remain difficult to register as EU trade marks – Case T-555/18 of 3 April 2019, Medrobotics Corp. v EUIPO This decision from the EU’s General Court (“GC”) highlights the… Read more »

Partner Ian Gill reflects on spending 25 years at AA Thornton and his career in Intellectual Property.    If you can’t view the embedded article above, we have provided an accessible version below: A quick search on Google reveals that Gary Larson announced he was no longer doing the “Far Side” cartoons on 3 October… Read more »

Trainee Trade Mark Attorney Anastasia Osipovich reports on the EUIPO’s cancellation of MasterCard’s registrations   The Cancellation Division of the EUIPO has recently declared the following two logo marks of Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard) invalid:             Cancellation actions against these registrations were brought by Cinkciarz.pl Sp. z o.o., a Polish… Read more »

AA Thornton is ranked as a top tier firm The Legal 500 2020 edition has now been published and we are absolutely delighted to be recommended as a top-tier firm for our trade marks practice, which was described as “strong”, “dedicated” and an “excellent team of knowledgeable and genuinely good people”. We also remain highly recommended for our patents… Read more »

Trick or Treat? A summary of the UK’s arrangements for EU IP rights if Brexit takes effect on 31 October Background It is over 3 years since the UK carried out a referendum on its membership of the European Union (EU), and the public’s decision then was that the UK should leave the EU. Subsequent… Read more »

Trade Mark Attorney Sarah Neil summarises the grace period for filing registered designs which has caught out several clients in recent years. Recently, we have seen an increasing number of clients fighting against the clock in an effort to try to obtain registered design protection before the grace period expires. The concept of time limits… Read more »

Automotive team members Marianne Privett and Nikesh Patel report on the Cenex Low Carbon Vehicle and Connected Automated Mobility 2019 event On the 4th and 5th of September, Patent Attorneys Nikesh Patel, Marianne Privett and David Blair attended the co-hosted Cenex-LCV (Low Carbon Vehicle) and Cenex-CAM (Connected Automated Mobility) events at Millbrook Proving Ground. With visitor numbers increasing every year, the events… Read more »

AA Thornton appoint two new Partners in their Litigation Department The Partners of AA Thornton are delighted to announce the appointment of Simon Spink and Dan Byrne, who recently joined the firm as Partners in the Litigation department. Commenting on the appointment, Geoff Hussey, Partner said: “I am absolutely delighted that such highly skilled and experienced… Read more »

Asahi’s recent success in obtaining a UK registration for the mark SNOW GLOBE despite opposition based on rights in SNOW.   Asahi Holdings UK Limited has successfully defended an opposition against its UK application for the mark SNOW GLOBE. At first glance, the decision may seem surprising to some, but it reinforces some fundamental and,… Read more »