NIPC Law

Royal Courts of Justice Author Anthony Majanlathi   Licence CC BY 2.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Arnold, Nugee and Birss)  InterDigital Technology Corporation and others v Lenovo Group Ltd and others [2024] EWCA Civ 743 (12 July 2024) This was an appeal by the claimants, InterDigital Technology and others ("InterDigital") and a cross-appeal by the defendants, Lenovo Group Limited and others ("Lenovo") against the order of Mr Justice Mellor in InterDigital Technology Corporation and others v Lenovo Group Ltd and others [2023] EWHC 1578 (Pat) (27 June 2023). That order implemented his lordship's judgment in    InterDigital Technology Corporation and others v Lenovo Group Ltd (FRAND Judgment - Public Version) [2023] EWHC 539 (Pat) (16 March 2023) which I discussed in  Patents - Interdigital Technology Corporation and others v Lenovo Group Ltd. and others   on 21 March 2023.  Mr Justice Mellor req...

Intellectual Property Office, Newport Crown Copyright  Open Govr Licence v.3.0   Source IPO website Jane Lambert The Intellectual Property Office  is an executive agency of the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology .  Its mission is "to help people grow the UK economy by providing an IP system that encourages investment in creativity and innovation."  It set out its strategy for fulfilling that mission in its corporate report  IP for a creative and innovative UK Strategy 2024 to 2027   on 2 May 2024. Three Pillars In that report, the IPO stated that its contribution to growing the UK economy by providing an IP system that encourages investment in creativity and innovation will be built on the following three pillars: High-quality, efficient and accessible services A policy of supporting innovation and the economy Delivery by a high-performing organization with skilled people connected by a shared purpose. High-quality, Efficient and A...

Jane Lambert There has been a passionate debate about the rôle of intellectual property ("IP") in producing and distributing vaccines against COVID 19 in low and mid-income countries. In a  communication to the Council of TRIPS dated 2 Oct 2020  (IP/C/W/669), the Indian and South African governments proposed relaxing some of the treaty obligations that require countries to protect the intellectual assets of their own and other countries' nationals. As a citizen, I have my views on that issue but in this article, I write only as a lawyer who has spent the better part of a lifetime advising and representing businesses and individuals on IP.   The Patent Waiver Proposal The proposal had gathered support from the governments of other low and mid-income countries, the former President of the Republic of Ireland and  Chair of the Elders ,  Mary Robinson  and  Baroness Chakrabarti.  the former shadow Attorney-General. and from the non-governmental o...

Author dun_deagh   Licence CC BY-SA 2.0   Source Wikipedia Scotland Jane Lambert Shortly before the Scottish independence referendum, I wrote  What would an independent Scottish government do about Intellectual Property?   on 10 Sept 2014 and  More on Scotland and Intellectual Property   on 13 Sept 2014.  As Scotland approaches elections in which the question of secession from the United Kingdom will again be an issue, it is now appropriate to reconsider what should be the intellectual property policy of a separate Scotland. In 2014 the section on intellectual property in the Scottish government's white paper Scotland's Future  consisting of 4 short paragraphs of which only the first was of any relevance.  I was not particularly impressed with it and I said so at the time.  Having said that, credit should be given to the Scottish government for at least publishing a white paper on independence because there was nothing like that on the ...

WIPO Head Office, Geneva  Author Emmanuel Berrod Licence  CC BY-SA 4.0   Source Flickr Jane Lambert This is the first of a series of articles on domain name disputes. Schemes for the rapid resolution of domain name disputes such as ICANN's  UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy ), Nominet's Dispute Resolution Service ( "DRS" ) and the Czech Court of Arbitration's ".euADR"  are probably the most successful use of alternative dispute resolution ( "ADR" ) on the planet and the topic is important for that reason alone. It is also important because such schemes are probably indispensable for the rapid development of the Internet.  It is inconceivable that businesses would have invested anything that the that they have on the development of on-line platforms for the delivery of many sorts of services without a quick and cheap method of domain name dispute resolution. My Qualifications and Experience I have been int...

In view of recent opinion polls, I have taken another look at page 102 of the Scottish Government's white paper Scotland's Future . That contains a section headed "Intellectual Property" which consists of 4 paragraphs though only the first sets out any policy. The second is concerned with the Scottish Arbitration Centre , the third is on immigration and the fourth is on a joint venture between Visit Scotland and the Walt Disney Company and the exposition of Scottish food and drink in Florida. So what is the policy? I reproduce the first paragraph of the section on IP in full: "We will ensure continuity of the legal framework for protecting intellectual property rights. Independence will also allow Scotland to offer a simpler and cheaper, more business-friendly model than the current UK system, which is bureaucratic and expensive, especially for small firms. The UK is one of the few EU countries which does not offer a scheme that covers the bas...

"The Color Purple" is a novel by Alice Walker  which won its author the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction  in 1983. if you have not read the book here is Wikipedia's summary of the plot .  It is a great book with a great story. The colour purple (or rather pantone 2685C) is only slightly less gripping. It is the subject of a tussle between two of the world's largest confectionery companies the latest stage of which has just ended in the Court of Appeal (   Société Des Produits Nestlé S.A. v Cadbury UK Ltd .  [2013] EWCA Civ 1174 (4 Oct 2013)). It started on 15 Oct 2004 when Cadbury Limited ( “Cadbury” ) applied to register "the colour purple (Pantone 2685C), as shown on the form of application, applied to the whole visible surface, or being the predominant colour applied to the whole visible surface, of the packaging of the goods" as a trade mark for the following goods: " Class 30 : Chocolate in bar and tablet form, chocolate confect...