NIPC Law

Jane Lambert   Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, Intellectual Property (Sir Colin Birss, Chancellor) QMC Instruments Ltd v Celtic Terahertz Technology Ltd and others [2025] EWHC 3485 (IPEC) (26 Nov 2025) This was a dispute between two university spin-off companies, which were incorporated to exploit the work of Professor Peter Ade .  Professor Ade carried out research into the far-infrared spectrum first at  Queen Mary College (now Queen Mary University London)  until 2001 and afterwards at Cardiff University . While at Queen Mary, he helped to set up QMC Instruments Ltd.  ("QMCIL") to sell far-infrared detectors and multimesh filters, some of which he had designed.  Some years later, Professor Ade and colleagues who had followed him to Cardiff established Celtic Terahertz Technology Ltd  ("CTT"). QMCIL Queen Mary College sold QMCILto investors in 1991 and warranted that the company was the sole beneficial owner of all the IP relatin...

Saints Cyril and Methodius, Creators of the Glagolitic Alphabet, Forerunner of Cyrillic Author Z Zograf  Public Domain  Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Chancery Division (David Stone)  Lish v The Northern Block Ltd and Another [2025] EWHC 2172 (Ch) (22 Aug 2025) This was an application by the defendants, The Northern Block Ltd.  and Jonathan Hill, its director and shareholder, for the striking out and/or summary judgment in claims by Mariya Vasilyevna Lish for breach of contract, breach of obligations following acceptance of a CPR Part 36 offer and copyright infringement.  The application was heard by Mr David Stone sitting as a deputy judge of the High Court on 15 July 2025. He delivered judgment in  Lish v The Northern Block Ltd and Another  [2025] EWHC 2172 (Ch) on 22 Aug 2025.  He dismissed the application for summary judgment but allowed the strikeout applications.  The Background Northern Block is a type foundry which su...

Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (His Honour Judge Hacon) Babek International Ltd v Iceland Foods Ltd [2025] EWHC 547 (IPEC) (11 March 2025) This was an application by Iceland Foods Ltd ("Iceland") for summary judgment on its counterclaim for the invalidation of registered trade mark number  907527963  held by Babek International Ltd. ("Babek") for meat, fish, poultry and game, meat extracts, preserved, frozen, dried and cooked fruits and vegetables, jellies, jams, competes, eggs, milk and milk products edible oils and fats in class 29 and scientific and technological services and research and design relating thereto, industrial analysis and research services design and development of computer hardware and software in class 42.  In this action, Babek sued Iceland for infringing its trade mark by selling goods with a sign identical to the mark in respect of which the mark had been registered.   His Honour Judge Hacon heard the application on 2...

Author Muhammad Karns Licence CC BY-SA 4.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (HH Judge Hacon)    I-Smart Developments Ltd v Currentbody.com Ltd (Rev1) [2024] EWHC 2889 (IPEC) (15 Nov 2024) On 6 Nov 2024, His Honour Judge Hacon heard an application by I-Smart Developments Ltd. ("ISD") to strike out part of the defence of Currentbody.com Ltd. to ISD's claim for breach of contract and registered and unregistered design infringement or alternatively summary judgment under CPR Part 24.  He also heard an application by ISD, I-Smart Marketing SVCS Ltd. ("ISM") and Susan Patricia D'Arcy ("Ms D'Arcy") to strike out part of the particulars of claim of Shenzhen Kaiyan Medical Equipment Ltd. ("Kaiyan") for a declaration that ISD's registered design is invalid and an injunction restraining them from maintaining ISD's claim or any other claim for infringement of IP rights in Keiyan's produ...

Author   Fg2   Licence Copyright waived by the author   Jane Lamber t Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (HH Judge Hacon)  Cloud Cycle Ltd v Verifi LLC and another   [2024] EWHC 233 (IPEC) (7 Feb 2024) In this action and counterclaim Cloud Cycle Ltd ("CCL") is suing Verifi LLC ("Verifi") and GCP Applied Technologies (UK) Limited ("GCP") for a declaration of non-infringement of European Patent (UK) No. 1 720 689  ("the patent") and Verifi and GCP are counterclaiming for infringement of the patent.  Verifi and GCP applied for an interim injunction to restrain CCL from dealing with new customers in an allegedly infringing system for ascertaining the consistency of concrete known as "slump".  CCL responded with an application for summary judgment on its claim and dismissal of the counterclaim.  Both applications came on before His Honour Judge Hacon on 31 Jan 2024.  By para [20] of his judgment in  Cloud Cycle Ltd v Verif...

Jane Lambert   Chancery Division (Mrs Justice Joanna Smith)  Getty Images (US) Inc and others v Stability AI Lt d [2023] EWHC 3090 (Ch) (1 Dec 2023) The defendant company, Stability AI Ltd., offers to create images to its customers' specifications using a type of artificial intelligence known as "stable diffusion" .  The image in Wikipedia of a spaceman on a horse is an example.  The claimants. Getty Images (US) Inc. and its subsidiaries complain that Stability AI reproduces content from their photo libraries to make such images without their licence.  They have brought proceedings for infringement of copyright, database rights and trade marks and passing off.  Stability AI applied for summary judgment or a strike out of the claim under CPR Part 24  and CPR 3.4 . It also requested further information of the claim under CPR Part 18 .  The Getty companies cross-applied to fix dates for the case management conference, pre-trial review and trial...