NIPC Law

Oskar Schlemmer's Bauhaus Emblem   Jane Lambert On 25 Jan 2022, the Intellectual Property Office  ("the IPO") announced a call for views on the legal protection of designs in the United Kingdom (see the IPO Press release IPO launches call for views on designs system   25 Jan 2022). This call for views follows a survey aimed at people who do not consider themselves experts on  IP but who have an interest in designs and their protection which closed on 11 Feb 2022.  The reason for the review is that the UK has left the European Union and has an opportunity to change its design law. The Current Law In Design  I wrote: "In everyday language. we talk of design as something that is functional as in the shape of the fuselage of an aircraft or the arrangement of components in a circuit or as something aesthetic such as a garment or accessory or an item of furniture. That distinction is reflected in the law that provides different regimes for the protection of...

The "Denver" claimed as a work of artistic craftsmanship  in Hensher v Restawhile   [1976] AC 64 Source  Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, Virtual Museum Despite the submissions of Sir Robin Jacob , leading academic lawyers, the IP Federation , the IP Bar Association  and the other intellectual property professions HM government seems determined to force through criminal sanctions for registered design and registered Community design infringement. Why HMG has set and indeed held to this course in the face of almost unanimous opposition from those who know most about intellectual property is a mystery but there it is. Governments do silly things sometimes of which the Dangerous Dogs Act is but one example. What happens next I have done all that I can as a citizen to persuade HMG to think again by   explaining in this blog why this proposal is a very bad idea ,  lobbying my MP  and even  remons...

Here is the email that I sent to my MP at 22:23 last night: "Dear Jason, You will shortly be required to consider the  Intellectual Property Bill  which was introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Younger, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Intellectual Property on 10 May 2013. I have analysed the Bill in detail and written a detailed commentary entitled  "The Intellectual Property Bill"  28 May 2013 which I hope you may find useful. The Bill contains a lot of useful provisions and is generally to be welcomed but it contains one provision, clause 13, which would create a new offence of infringing a registered design punishable by 10 years imprisonment, an unlimited fine or both.  During the consultation on the proposed provisions of the Bill, Sir Robin Jacob a former Lord Justice of the Court of Appeal and now a leading academic lawyer who is regarded by most as the greatest authority on IP law of the age, objected strenuously to the propo...

Fredrik Neij and Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi founded one of the world's largest file sharing sites known as The Pirate Bay . They were prosecuted for offences under the Swedish copyright act ( Upphovsrättslagen , 1960:729)  and in the same process sued by various record companies and other copyright owners for copyright infringement in the Stockholm district cour t ( Tingsrätt ). After a hearing that lasted from the 16 Feb until 3 March 2009 they were found guilty of the charges and sentenced to a year's imprisonment on 17 April 2009. They were also ordered to pay damages of SEK30 million to the copyright owners. They appealed to the Swedish court of appeal ( ( Svea hovrätt ) which upheld their convictions but reduced their sentences and increased the damages award on 26 Nov 2010. They applied for permission to appeal to the Swedish supreme court ( Högsta domstolen ) but that court rejected their application on 1 Feb 2012. On 20 June 2012 Mr. Neij and Mr. Kolmisoppi complaine...