NIPC Law

Author Rob Farrow   Licence CC BY-SA 2.0 Deed   Source Wikimedia Commons Jane Lambert Business and Property Courts, Intellectual Property (Chancery) Mr Justice Zacaroli PG Systems Europe Ltd. and another v Aughton and another   [2023] EWHC 581 (22 March 2023) This was an action for copyright infringement and breach of confidence. It was brought by a software house against its former director and programmer. The claimants were a US company called Productivity-Quality Systems, Inc. ("PQS") and an English company called PQ Systems Europe Ltd. ("PQE").  The transcript refers to them collectively as "PQ".  PQE was not a subsidiary of PQS but it was founded, owned and run by the same person. When that founder died both companies passed into the hands of his successor.    The first defendant, Jeff Aughton ("Mr Aughton"), worked for PQE from 1989 to 2015  On leaving that company, Mr Aughton developed software packages that were similar to PQE's....

Author Friedrich-Johann-Justin-Bertuch    Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (HH Judge Melissa Clarke)  Evans v John Lewis Plc and anothe r [2023] EWHC 766 (IPEC) (3 April 2023)    This was another copyright case that turned on whether copying could be proved.  The claimant was the self-published author of a children's book about a young dragon who could not help emitting fire. She claimed that a substantial part of her work had been copied in an advertising film that had been made by the second defendant for the retailer John Lewis Plc at Christmas 2019. That film featured another fire-emitting young dragon and was accompanied by a spin-off children's book called Excitable Edgar .  The claimant sued for copyright infringement. The creators of the film counterclaimed for a declaration of non-infringement and a publicity order.  The action and counterclaim came on for trial before Her Honour Judge Melissa Clarke on 30 and 31 Jan 20...

Authors Ben Sutherland   Beyond My Ken   Licence CC BY-SA 2.0 Source Wikimedia Commons     Jane Lambert Chancery Division (Mr Justice Zacaroli) Smith v Dryden and others [2021] EWHC 2277 (11 Aug 2021) This was a claim by Kelly-Marie Smith against Kesi Dryden and others for copyright infringement. The claimant wrote the words and music for a song called Can You Tell Me .  She claimed that copyright subsisted in those works and that those copyrights had been infringed by the performance, recording and publication of the song Waiting All Night.  The song had been written by James Newman and recorded by the band Rudimental .  The action came on for trial before Mr Justice Zacaroli between 20 and 26 July 2021. At para [86] of his judgment in Smith v Dryden and others [2021] EWHC 2277, the learned judge dismissed the claim. The judge referred to s.1 (1) and s.3 (1) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 . He also cited para [33] of Judg...

In  John Kaldor Fabricmaker UK Ltd v Lee Ann Fashions Ltd .  [2014] EWHC 3779 (IPEC) (21 Nov 2014) Judge Hacon had to decide whether the fabric used to make the dress in the bottom photo was a copy of the fabric in the top one. The Facts Some time before the beginning of Aug 2012 Lee Ann Fashions Ltd. ( "Lee Ann" ) received the following design brief from Marks & Spencer: " Print Direction  More primitive wood blocking prints, bold batiks, multi-stripes and tribal prints. Often these are anchored with stone and Black with highlights of the colour pops of the collection" On 2 Aug 2012 employees from Lee Ann met a sales executive of John Kaldor Fabricmaker UK Ltd ( "Kaldor" ) . Lee Ann invited Kaldor to supply samples of its materials so that Kaldor could bid for Marks & Spencer's order. Kaldor supplied 22 samples including 4 metres of the fabric in Annex 1. Lee Ann offered to supply Marks & Spencer dresses made from that fabric. T...