NIPC Law

Cyrillic Script Monument in Antarctica Author Inoceramid Bivalves   Licence CC BY-SA 4.0   Wikimedia Comm ons Jane Lambert Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Moylan, Coulson and Arnold)   Lish v The Northern Block Ltd and another [2026] EWCA Civ 497 (27 April 2026) This was an appeal by the claimant, Mariya Vasiliyevna Lish, against the order of David Stone on 22 Aug 2025 in which he struck out two of her claims as an abuse of process of the court for the reasons given in his judgment (see  Lish v The Northern Block Ltd and Another [2025] EWHC 2172 (Ch) 23 Aug 2025).   I discussed that judgment in  Copyright - Lish v The Northern Block Ltd.   on 30 Aug 2025. Background The   first   defendant, The Northern Block ("TNB"), was a type foundry which supplied typefaces or fonts in various alphabets to graphic designers, printers, manufacturers and others.  It was founded by the second defendant, Jonathan Hill. Mrs Lish was a typeface des...

Ceric Oxide Author Walkerma  Reproduced with kind permission of the copyright owner  Jane Lamber t Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Lewison, Floyd and Jackson)  Anan Kasei Co Ltd and another v Neo Chemicals and Oxides Ltd and another [ 2019] WLR(D) 553, [2019] EWCA Civ 1646 Patents Court (Roger Wyand QC)  Anan Kasei Co. Ltd and another v Molycorp Chemicals & Oxides (Europe) Ltd .  [2018] EWHC 843 (Pat) In    Anan Kasei Co. Ltd and another v Molycorp Chemicals & Oxides (Europe) Ltd . [2018] EWHC 843 (Pat), Anan Kasei Co. Ltd the proprietor of  European patent 1435338  and Rhodia Operations SAS, its exclusive licensee, sued a distributor of catalytic products for infringement of claims 1 to 5 of the  patent.  The defendant, which changed its name to    Neo Chemicals and Oxides (Europe) Ltd., denied infringement and counterclaimed for revocation on grounds of anticipation, obv...

Pierina Legnani Source Wikipedia Swan Lake Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (Judge Hacon)    Glass Slipper Ltd and another v Rimson Flower Productions Ltd and others [2019] EWHC 1273 )IPEC) (20 May 2019) Had it ever cleared the ground this might have been a very interesting action. The first claimant called itself Glass Slipper Limited which suggested a connection with Cinderella. English National Ballet has recently staged a beautiful production of Cinderella choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon in the Albert Hall which I reviewed in my dance blog (see Jane Lambert Cinders in the Round   13 June 2019 Terpsichore ). Sadly the case had nothing to do with Cinderella though it appears to have been about the copyright in a film of a performance of Swan Lake by the Mariinsky Ballet at its theatre in St Petersburg on 6 June 2013.  That could have been interesting too because the Mariinsky is the succes...

Author Hydragyrum Reproduced with kind permission of the copyright owner Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert Chancery Division (Mr Justice Snowden)  Banner Universal Motion Pictures Ltd v Endemol Shine Group Ltd and others   [2017] EWHC 2600 (Ch) In Denmark there was once a game show called "Minute Winner" which was devised by a Mr Derek Banner. Mr Banner claimed to have assigned his rights in the format for the game show to a company that he had set up called Banner Universal Motion Pictures Ltd. ( "BUMP" ). The rights  that BUMP claims to have acquired were essentially copyright in a document entitled "MINUTE WINNER Mini-format Game show Daily or weekly show. Or short one minute between main programs. Morning, Evening or Afternoon program. One minute, or 30 minutes with several winnings" and the benefit of an obligation of confidence under Swedish and English trade secrecy laws. The obligation of confidence is s...

In Evans and another v Focal Point Fires Plc [2009] EWHC 2794 Mr. Justice Peter Smith granted summary judgment to the claimants in a claim for passing off. The claimants, who had sold fire surrounds in partnership under the name "Firecraft" since 1991, sued one of the UK's largest manufacturers of gas fires for marketing its products under the registered trade mark FIRECRAFT since May 2001. The basis of the judge's decision was that the issue of passing off had already been determined in the Trade Marks Registry of the IP Office by the hearing officer, Mr. James, on behalf of the Registrar in invalidation proceedings. By his decision of 18 Nov 2008 Mr. James declared the registration invalid under s.47 (2) (b) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 on the ground that the claimants had an "earlier right" within the meaning of s.5 (4) (a) of the Act. That sub-section  provides: "A trade mark shall not be registered if, or to the extent that, its use in the Un...