NIPC Law

C ontains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 . Jane Lambert The CEO of the Intellectual Property Office, who is known as "the registrar" in trade mark proceedings pursuant to s.62 of the Trade Marks Act 1994, exercises judicial as well as executive functions.  He or she adjudicates disputes between applicants for trade marks and examiners known as ex parte proceedings. The registrar also decides disputes between applicants or registered proprietors and third parties that are known as  inter pates proceedings". The registrar's judicial functions are performed on his or her behalf by officials known as "hearing officers" though they are not mentioned in the legislation.  I discussed ex parte hearings in If the examiner says "no" - ex parte hearings in the Trade Marks Registry   in NIPC London on 10 Aug 2015 and inter partes hearings in Oppositions in the IPO's Trade Mark Registry   in the same publicati...

Jane Lambert Court of Appeal (Lord Justices Floyd and Arnold and Lady Justice Nichola Davies) Genentech Inc v Comptroller and Master Data Center v Comptroller   [2020] EWCA Civ 475 (31 March 2020) These were appeals from the decision of Mr Recorder Campbell QC in Master Data Center, Inc v Comptrolle r [2020] EWHC 572 (Pat) (11 March 2020) which I blogged in Supplementary Protection Certificates - Master Data Center, Inc v The Comptroller   on   18 March 2020.  The cases are remarkable for the speed with which they progressed from the hearing officer to the Court of Appeal.  They were before Mr  Micklewright on 21 Feb 2020 (see  R e Genentech, Inc. and Master Data Center, Inc . BL O/111/20 21 Feb 2020), Mr Campbell on 4 March 2020 and the Court of Appeal on 26 of that month ( Genentech Inc v Comptroller and Master Data Center v Comptroller [2020] EWCA Civ 475 (31 March 2020).   The cases are also remarkable for being...

Lisbon Bridge Photo Matt Perich Creative Commons Licence Art 35 (1) of the Unified Patent Court Agreement  establishes a patent mediation and arbitration centre with seats in Ljubljana and Lisbon. Its purpose is to provide facilities for mediation and arbitration of patent disputes falling within the scope of that Agreement. The Centre is required by art 35 (3) to establish Mediation and Arbitration Rules and by art 35 (4) to draw up a list of mediators and arbitrators to assist the parties in the settlement of their dispute. On 15 Feb 2016 the Preparatory Committee published the latest draft Mediation Rules for the Centre. These Rules will be incorporated into every mediation agreement. Art 2 (1) of the draft Rules states that the mediation service of the Centre offers support in the settlement of disputes relating to European patents and European patents with unitary effects for which the Unified Patent Court  is exclusively compe...

Partial View of the Internet Author  The Opte Project Source  Wikipedia Creative Commons Licence Whenever you apply to register or to renew the registration of, a generic top-level domain name such as one ending in ".com", ".org" or ".biz" you represent and warrant to the registrar that: (a) the statements that you make in your agreement with the registrar are complete and accurate; (b) the registration of the domain name will not to your knowledge, infringe upon or otherwise violate the rights of any third party; (c) you are not registering the domain name for an unlawful purpose; and (d) you will not knowingly use the domain name in violation of any applicable laws or regulations. It is your responsibility and not the registrar's to determine whether your domain name registration infringes or violates someone else's rights. What Rights might be violated or infringed? These are usually registered trade ma...

As I indicated in  How the Intellectual Property Act 2014 changes British Patent Law   JD Supra 21 June 2014 s.16 of the Intellectual Property Act 2014 amends s.74A and s.74B of the Patents Act 1977 and inserts three new subsections into s.73. The upshot as explained in paragraph 4  and paragraph 5  of the IPO's guide Expansion of the Patent Opinions Service: business guidance is that the range of questions upon which an examiner's opinion can be obtained has been expanded and the Comptroller now has power to revoke patents which are found to be invalid. Where to find the Law The Patents Act 1977 has now been amended by art 3 and the Schedule  to The Intellectual Property Act 2014 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2014 (SI 2014 No 2330) (see Jane Lambert  The Intellectual Property Act 2014 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2014   6 Sept 2014) and corresponding changes to the Paten...