IP Litigation

Background The main value of many technology merger or acquisition deals may not lie in tangible property like buildings or stock inventory.  Often the value lies in intellectual property (IP), and patents in particular. It is common practice for companies to monitor the R&D activities of others, particularly smaller innovators.  This is done with a… Read more »

Author: Dan Byrne   Tigercat International Inc. (“Tigercat”) and Caterpillar Inc. (“Caterpillar”) have been in conflict in numerous countries around the world due to conflict arising between Tigercat’s name and Caterpillar Inc’s commonly used abbreviation “Cat”. Most recently, a dispute in the EU IPO has resulted in Tigercat losing an opposition for its application for… Read more »

Author: Lindsey Rigg   In 1920, Cadbury launched their purple and gold packaging for their Dairy Milk range, rumoured to have been chosen as a tribute to Queen Victoria. Since then, Cadbury have used their iconic shade of purple on a range of confectionary. However, the efforts of Cadbury to protect their brand’s shade of… Read more »

In the recent case of Shazam v Only Fools The Dining Experience and Others [2022] EWHC 1379 (IPEC) the IPEC ruled that copyright could subsist in a fictional character considered a ‘literary work’ under UK copyright law. The case concerned the character Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter from the long-running TV series Only Fools and Horses… Read more »

Ed Sheeran Granted Declaration of Non-Infringement in “Shape of You” copyright case Ed Sheeran has successfully defended a claim for copyright infringement for his song “Shape of You” and was granted a declaration of non-infringement of copyright (Sheeran v Chokri [2022] EWHC 827 (CH)).   Background The song “Shape of You”, which Ed Sheeran co-wrote… Read more »

A.A. Thornton & Co conversion to AA Thornton IP LLP We are delighted to share that, on 1 April 2022, A.A. Thornton & Co (“the Partnership”) converted from a partnership, under the Partnership Act 1890, to AA Thornton IP LLP (“the LLP”).   What this means for us Limited liability partnerships are a favoured structure amongst… Read more »

Prosecuting green patents around the world The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) launched the Green Channel in 2009. The Green Channel is a scheme which allows applicants to request accelerated prosecution of patent applications directed to an invention which has an environmental benefit. Since the launch of the green channel in the UK, a… Read more »

Trademarking in the Metaverse and Non-Fungible Tokens – virtually pointless? Should you be extending your trade mark protection to the Metaverse?  What role do Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) play within the Metaverse and your trade mark protection strategy?   What is the Metaverse? It is probably easiest to understand as a massively scaled up version of… Read more »

Recent progress towards Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court Europe’s long-awaited Unified Patent Court and the European Union’s Unitary Patent could (and even should) both be available before the end of 2022. Even if there is a short delay, the UPC is almost certain to be open for business in late 2022 or early 2023…. Read more »

Court of Appeal confirms requirement for human inventor in ‘DABUS’ case   On 21 September 2021 the Court of Appeal handed down its decision in THALER v COMPTROLLER GENERAL concerning allowability of UK patents having an AI based machine known as DABUS (short for Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience) listed as an inventor. A… Read more »