NIPC Law

By Volker Prasuhn, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8363375   Jane Lambert Patents Court (Mr Tom Mitcheson KC) Bionome Technology Ltd v Clearwater [2024] EWHC 3155 (Ch) (9 Dec 2024) This was an appeal from the decision of the Deputy Director of Patents, Huw Jones, sitting on behalf of the Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks in an entitlement dispute.   As I said in How to Avoid Entitlement Disputes   on 22 June 2024 in NIPC Inventors' Club, an entitlement dispute is a dispute over the right to apply for or own a patent.   I wrote about such disputes in Disputes over Ownership of Inventions   on 6 Aug 2015 in NIPC South East. The Dispute In  Okipa Ltd and another v Bionome Technology Ltd   BL   O/0410/24 3 May 2024, Mr Jones held that British patent  GB2598881  and international patent application  WO2021/191614 A1 for controlling the growth of vegetation ("the invention")...

Representation of the Registered Design Crown Copyright  Open Government Licence   Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (HH Judge Hacon) Barber v Wakefield and others [2024] EWHC 3058 (IPEC) (28  Nov 2024) This was a claim for the infringement of UK registered design number 4028780 for a locksmith's letterbox tool handle.  A representation of the design appears above,  His Honour Judge Hacon who tried the action said that it was the design of a tool to be manipulated through the letterbox of a front door to open the door without a key.  Typically the tool is used to assist individuals who are locked out of their homes though, as the judge remarked at para [21] of his judgment in Barber v Wakefield and others [2024] EWHC 3058 (IPEC) (28 Nov 2024), other uses could be imagined. Alleged Infringement The proprietor of the registered design alleged that Ultimate Tools Ltd and the individuals who ran that company had infringed his regis...

Autho r Brenton Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Source Wikimedia Commons Jane Lambert Patents Cour t (HH Judge Hacon) S andoz AG and others v Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH [2024] EWHC 796 (Pat) (12 April 2024 ) These were conjoined actions by several generic pharmaceutical manufacturers against Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH ("Bayer") for the revocation of European patent (UK) 1 845 961 ("the Patent") for the treatment of thromboembolic disorders with rivaroxaban . There were also counterclaims by Bayer for injunctions to restrain the threatened infringement of the Patent. Those threats were conceded for the purposes of the trial. Consequently, the validity of the Patent was the only issue to be tried. His Honour Judge Hacon tried those actions on 9, 12, 13,14, 15 and 16 Jan and 21 and 22 Feb 2024. By para [272] of his judgment in Sandoz AG and others v Bayer Intellectual Property GmbH [2024] EWHC 796 (Pat) handed down on 12 April 2024, the learned judge found t...

© 2021 Jane Lambert All rights reserved   Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (David Stone) Thurgood v Laight and another   [2024] EWHC 2947 (21 Nov 2024) This was an action for passing off ,  The claimant, Laura Thurgood ("Ms Thurgood"), carried on a dog grooming business near Birmingham in the name or style of WASH WIGGLE & WAG. The first defendant, Danielle Laight ("Ms Laight"), worked in that business until May 2020 when she fell out with Ms Thurgood.  She incorporated the second defendant in the name of Wash Wiggle & Wag Ltd , on 29 May 2020 and registered <washwigglewag.co.uk> as a domain name.  Ms Laight and her company began to trade under that appellation. Ms Thurgood complained that her business had declined considerably in June and July 2020.  She abandoned her WASH WIGGLE & WAG brand in September 2020. Procedural History Ms Thurgood issued proceedings against Ms Laight and her company out of the Queen's Bench D...

Author Muhammad Karns Licence CC BY-SA 4.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (HH Judge Hacon)    I-Smart Developments Ltd v Currentbody.com Ltd (Rev1) [2024] EWHC 2889 (IPEC) (15 Nov 2024) On 6 Nov 2024, His Honour Judge Hacon heard an application by I-Smart Developments Ltd. ("ISD") to strike out part of the defence of Currentbody.com Ltd. to ISD's claim for breach of contract and registered and unregistered design infringement or alternatively summary judgment under CPR Part 24.  He also heard an application by ISD, I-Smart Marketing SVCS Ltd. ("ISM") and Susan Patricia D'Arcy ("Ms D'Arcy") to strike out part of the particulars of claim of Shenzhen Kaiyan Medical Equipment Ltd. ("Kaiyan") for a declaration that ISD's registered design is invalid and an injunction restraining them from maintaining ISD's claim or any other claim for infringement of IP rights in Keiyan's produ...

  Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Cour t (Mr Campbell Forsyth) WaterRower (UK) Ltd v Liking Ltd . [2024] EWHC 2806 (IPEC) At the case management conference in WaterRower (UK) Ltd v Liking Ltd (T/A Topiom) [2022] EWHC 2084 (IPEC) (5 Aug 2022), Liking Ltd ("Liking") applied unsuccessfully to strike out or obtain summary judgment in, a claim against it by WaterRower (UK) Ltd.  ("WaterRower") for infringement of copyright in several of its water resistance rowing machines ("the Works"). WaterRower had alleged that the Works were "works of artistic craftsmanship" within the meaning of s. 4 (1) (c) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ("CDPA").  Mr David Stone, who heard the application, said: "I have found that the Claimant’s case that the WaterRower is a work of artistic craftsmanship is not 'bound to fail'. I have not reached a concluded view that the WaterRower is a work of artistic craftsmanship -...