NIPC Law

Tapioca Pearls Author Lars Plougmann   Licence CC BY-SA 2.0   Source Wikimedia   Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (HH Judge Hacon)  Duadata Ltd v Tian Cha Le Ltd . [2026] EWHC 1055 (IPEC) (8 May 2026) This was an inquiry as to damages for passing off.   The claimant operated a nationwide chain of bubble tea  shops and franchises under the Mooboo brand. Bubble tea is a beverage that contains small chewy tapioca balls and various flavourings of different kinds.  A company owned and operated by one Qin Lin held a Mooboo franchise for Gateshead between 8 April 2021 and 23 Jan 2024.  On 22 Aug 2023, Ms Lin incorporated the defendant which began to operate a bubble tea outlet in Gateshead adopting a similar menu design, products, drinks, recipes and prices to the claimant's.  The claimant sued the defendant for passing off on 24 May 2024. The Order The defendant did not defend the claim and the claimant obtained a default ...

Jane Lambert   Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (His Honour Judge Hacon) Luxe World Ltd v Touch of Vogue Ltd and another [2026] EWHC 148 (IPEC) (30 Jan 2026) S.26C (1) of the Registered Designs Act 1949 provides that proceedings in respect of an actionable threat may be brought against the person who made the threat for— (a) a declaration that the threat is unjustified; (b) an injunction against the continuance of the threat; (c) damages in respect of any loss sustained by the aggrieved person by reason of the threat. An "actionable threat" in this context means a threat to sue for infringing a registered design. S.26A (1) states that a threat of infringement proceedings made by any person is actionable by any person aggrieved by such a threat, subject to the provisions of subsections 26A (2) to (5). S.26 (1) adds that a communication contains a “threat of infringement proceedings” if a reasonable person in the position of a recipient would understand from the comm...

  Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (HH Judge Hacon) Harrison (t/a Rayson Engineering) v Buchanan and anothe r [2025] EWHC 3283 (IPEC) (17 Dec 2025) This was a claim for breach of contract and copyright infringement.  The contract claim was based on the claimant's allegation that the defendants commissioned him to create drawings of components for an electrochemical water conditioner.  The copyright claim was based on the claimant's further allegation that copyright subsisted in those drawings, that he was the first owner of those copyrights and that the defendants had used the drawings without his licence.  The defendants denied that there was a binding agreement and argued that the drawings were not fit for purpose.  The action came on for trial before His Honour Judge Hacon on 21 Nov 2025.  By para [21] of his judgment in Harrison (t/a Rayson Engineering) v Buchanan and Another [2025] EWHC 3283 (IPEC), which he handed down on 17 ...

  Jane Lambert Court of Appea l (Lords Justices Coulson, Arnold and Warby) AstraZeneca AB and another v Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Europe Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 480 (16 April 2025) This was an appeal against Michael Tappin KC's refusal in  AstraZeneca AB and another v Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Europe Ltd (Re Interim Injunction Application) [2025] EWHC 748 (Pat) (28 March 2025)   to grant AstraZeneca AB and AstraZeneca UK Ltd. an interim injunction to restrain Gelnmark Pharmaceuticals Europe Ltd. from selling a product containing dapagliflozin pending a hearing on the form of order following a trial to determine the validity of the first claimant's supplemental protection certificates  for dapagliflozin and a combination of dapagliflozin and metformin.  The appeal was heard by Lords Justices Coulson, Arnold and Warby on 9 April 2025.  At the end of the hearing, the Lords Justices announced that they would allow AstraZeneca's appeal.  Lord Justice Arno...

Author Anthony Majanlahti   Licence CC BY 2.0 Deed   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Lewison and Arnold and Lady Justice Falk)  easyGroup Ltd v Easy Live (Services) Ltd and others (Rev1) [2023] EWCA Civ 1508 (20 Dec 2023) This was an appeal by the claimant, easyGroup Ltd. ("easyGroup"), against the dismissal by Sir Anthony Mann of its claim for passing off against the defendants, Easy Live Services Ltd. and its shareholders and directors Achilleas Achilleous and Jonathan Burnside, for the reasons set out in Sir Anthony's judgment in  Easygroup Ltd v Easy Live (Services) Ltd and others [2022] EWHC 3327 (Ch) (21 Dec 2022).  easyGroup also appealed against a declaration that the defendants' use of certain signs did not infringe various trade marks owned by easyGroup.  The appeal came on before Lords Justices Lewison and Arnold and Lady Justice Falk on 13 Dec 2023.  By their judgment of 20 Dec 2023, they u...