NIPC Law

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 ...

Plage de la Coutarde Author  Baptiste Rossi Copyright waived by the author Source  Wikipedia Jane Lambert A lot happened in July. First, the resignations of the Rt Hon David Davis MP, the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP and a number of other ministers. Secondly, the publication of white papers on  The Future Relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union   and  Legislating for the Withdrawal Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union .    Thirdly, the Prime Minister and her ministers have visited the capitals of other EU member states to canvass support for the future relationship white paper's proposals. Finally, active preparations have begun here and in the rest of the EU for the UK's withdrawal from the EU without a withdrawal agreement.    More

Jane Lambert The answer is very simple.  The laws upon which my clients will rely to protect their intellectual assets  in the future will depend to a large extent on the outcome of those negotiations.  If agreement can be reached on the terms upon which the UK leaves the EU there will be a transition period between 29 March 2019 and 31 Dec 2020 during which long term  arrangements for the future relationship between the UK and EU including the enforcement of intellectual property rights can be negotiated. If agreement cannot be reached there is a danger that important legislation such as   Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 on jurisdiction and judgments in civil and commercial matters  will cease to apply to the UK after 29 March 2019. At present, negotiations on a withdrawal agreement are finely balanced.  On the one hand, the EU's chief negotiator,Michel Barnier, said we were 80% of the way there in a  p ress statement following ...

Author Mike Gimelbelb Licence Copyright waived by author Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert For many years space was a government activity largely because most of the early uses of the technology were military and the vehicles that launched transported people and objects into space were developed from missiles. Gradually, civilian uses were found for the technology such as satellite broadcasting, remote sensing and telecommunications.  The value of the global space market is between £155 and £190 billion and likely to rise to £400 billion by 2030 according to the  Space Sector Report 1  which was prepared for the House of Commons Committee on Exiting the European Union. The Industrial Strategy white paper   states that   the United Kingdom has about 6.5% of that market and that the government hopes to increase that share to 10% by 2030. In order to achieve that goal the British government has to update the legal framework that regulates the ...

Scotland's position in the British Isles, Europe and the World Source Wikipedia In "What would an independent Scottish government do about Intellectual Property?"  I discussed what the Scottish government said it would do about intellectual property if Scotland seceded from the United Kingdom. Today I will consider what the white paper did not say. The Current Situation Scotland like the rest of the UK protects intellectual assets (brands, designs, technology and works of art and literature) by a bundle of laws some of which derive from statute such as patents, copyrights and trade marks, some from European Union regulations such as Community designs and trade marks, and some such as confidentiality and passing off from common law. Some of those rights have to be registered with the Intellectual Property Office in Newport, others with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market ( "OHIM ) and European patents wit...