NIPC Law

Falls of Bruar Author  Yomangan Licence Public domain Source Wikimedia Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (Miss Recorder Michaels)  Fairfax & Favor Ltd and others v The House Of Bruar Ltd and others [2022] EWHC 689 (IPEC) (25 March 2022) In Design ,  I wrote: "In everyday language, the word “design“ may refer to an article’s functions as in the design of a circuit, reactor or website or to its appearance as in the design of a dress, garden or piece of furniture. Obviously, the two are not mutually exclusive since the aerodynamic lines of a sports car or the span of a bridge can be things of beauty as well as feats of engineering. The law protects both functional and ornamental desig n." I added that the shape or configuration (whether internal or external) of the whole or any part of an article is protected from copying by a new intellectual property right known as “ design right”  and that new designs having individual character can be regi...

           Jane Lambert Chancery Division ( Mr David Stone) Original Beauty Technology and others v G4K Fashion Ltd and others [2021] EWHC 294 (Ch) (24 Feb 2021) This was an action for infringement of unregistered design right and unregistered Community designs  and passing off .  The designs in question were of women's garments in the bodycon and bandage styles. The action came on for trial before Mr David Stone on various dates between 30 Nov and 21 Dec 2020. In  Original Beauty Technology and others v G4K Fashion Ltd and others [2021] EWHC 294 (Ch) which he handed down on 24 Feb 2021 he found that the defendants had infringed some of the first claimant's unregistered design rights and unregistered Community designs but they had not passed off their business as or for the claimants', Following his judgment, there were further hearings on the terms of the minute of order, whether garments in different colourways infringed...

The Rolls Building Author  Basher Eyre  Licence Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Source Wikimedia Commons Jane Lambert Patents Court (HH Judge Hacon):  Cantel Medical (UK) Ltd and another v ARC Medical Design Ltd   [2018] EWHC 345 (Pat) This was a claim by Cantel Medical (UK) Ltd and Cantel (UK) Limited  for the revocation or declarations of non-infringement of the following patents , registered Community designs ("RCD") and unregistered design rights : European patent number 2 575 590 for a covering for a medical scoping device ; UK patent number 2 478 081 for a covering for medical scoping device ; RCD number 001856121-0001 ; RCD number 002523191-0001 ; the design right in the design on an attachment to a colonoscope known as the Endocuff; and the design right in the design of another attachment known as the Endocuff Vision. ARC Medical Design Ltd ., which is the registered...

There are often a lot of cases brought by the fashion trade or toy or novelty manufacturers in the run up to Christmas. There don't seem to have been all that many this year judging by the Chancery Division cause list and the Patent Court and Intellectual Property Enterprise Court ( "IPEC" ) diaries. However, there has been a case about ice cream or rather ice cream vans. In Whitby Specialist Vehicles Ltd. v Yorkshire v Yorkshire Specialist Vehicles Ltd   [2014] EWHC 4242 (Pat) the biggest manufacturer of ice cream vans in the UK sued one of its competitors or unregistered Community design, design right and trade mark infringement. The trial took place in the Patents Court on the 10, 12-14, 20 Nov 2014 and judgment was delivered on the 17 Dec 2014. Usually actions of this kind proceed in IPEC where trials are limited to two days and costs are capped at £50,000 for the trial on liability and £25,000 for ...

Most people know that design right is a relatively new intellectual property right which was created by  Part III  of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ( "CDPA" ) which came into force on the 1 August 1989. The right protects original designs (that is to say, the design of any aspect of the shape or configuration (whether internal or external) of the whole or part of an article. It is to be distinguished from artistic copyright that protects artistic works from reproduction under  Part I  of the CDPA and rights in new designs having individual character protected by registration under the Registered Designs Act 1949  as amended. Legislative History In its 1986 white paper, “ Intellectual Property and Innovation ” (Cm 9712), the government of the day recognized that the protection of functional articles under the Copyright Act 1956 was highly controversial. It noted the objections that: the term of protection, which was then 50 years plus the life of the author rathe...