NIPC Law

We have all given a warm welcome to the small intellectual property claims track but, as I warned in "The New Small IP Claims Jurisdiction" on 5 March 2012, there are likely to be a lot of claims against little people in the new tribunal.  I mentioned claims by photo libraries in my article but there may well be a torrent  (apologies for the pun) of claims against file sharers too. An indication that could happen is  Golden Eye (International) Ltd and Others v Telefonica UK Ltd [2012] EWHC 723 (Ch) (26 March 2012). Importance of the Case This was a claim by Golden Eye (International) Ltd. and 13 other claimants against O2   (the trading name of Telefonica UK Ltd) for Norwich Pharmacal orders. These are orders requiring a person who is not himself a wrongdoer but who has documents or information identifying wrongdoers to make that information available to an injured party.   The jurisdiction takes its name from the appeal in  Norwich Pharmacal...

Almost exactly 160 years after its establishment, the Intellectual Property Office is to sever its last links with London. "Ever since the opening of Concept House in Newport it has been difficult to justify the Bloomsbury annexe" said Lawrence Smith Higgins on behalf of the Comptroller. "It is now used largely as a video conferencing studio for hearings with the occasional mediation and seminar. With the need to make economies across the board this expense, which has largely been for the convenience of London based intellectual property practitioners, can no longer be borne by hard pressed taxpayers throughout the country." Initial reactions from the professions have been mixed.  "Outrageous" fumed a spokesman from the CIPA.  "I should like to know how we are supposed to commute to Newport on scale fees" mused patent and TM agent Richard Gallafent. "But I don't mind too much as we have an office in Llareggub."   "Paddingt...

Margaret Thatcher's birth place in Grantham   Source   Wikipedia According to Wikiquote , "frit" is an unusual Lincolnshire dialect abbreviation of 'frightened' which Mrs Thatcher evidently recalled from her Grantham childhood.  I am reminded of the word for two reasons.  First, Lady Thatcher is reported by today's Independent  to have said that she wishes she had never gone into politics. A report that prompted my mischievous and slightly unfair but quite irresistible  tweet  that perhaps for the first time the former Prime Minister has spoken for the nation. The second reason is that I got round to reading Judge Birss QC's judgment in Merck Sharp Dohme Corporation and Another v Teva Pharma BV and Another [2012] EWHC 627 (Pat) (15 March 2012) which concerned the circumstances in which a quia timet action and indeed interim injunctive relief are justified.  "Quia timet", as Margaret Roberts could no doubt once have told us when she was ...

On 15 Nov 2011 the government announced that a new small claims service will be introduced at the Patents County Court (PCC)  with a view to helping small and medium sized businesses to protect their copyright, trade marks and designs.(see the press release "New Intellectual Property Court process will boost UK business" ). Such a service had been recommended by Jackson ( Review of Civil Litigation Costs , Final Report Dec 2009 at page 257) and Hargreaves ( "Digital Opportunity, A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth" , Final Report page 85).  Gowers had favoured a slightly different service, namely a fast track scheme for lower value IP cases though his 54th recommendation went no further than a review by the Department of  Constitutional Affairs (see page 117 of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property , June 2006). In the consultation document "Introducing a Small Claims Track into the Patents County Court"  which the Intellectual Property Off...

After disappointments with Scarlet  and Netlog , the withdrawal of SOPA and PIPA and Her Majesty's Government's acceptance of the Hargreaves Report , Big Copyright had something to cheer about.  In  Dramatico Entertainment Ltd and Others v British Sky Broadcasting Ltd and Others [2012] EWHC 268 (Ch) (20 Feb 2012) Mr. Justice Arnold concluded that both users and operators of The Pirate Bay ( "TPB" ) infringe the copyrights of the claimant record companies in the UK. TPB weren't there, of course.   As the judge noted at paragraph [12] of his judgment, one of the founders of TPB was believed to be in Cambodia but the others have scattered to the four winds. All attempts to serve them with Swedish proceedings have come to nought. Not surprising as they have all been convicted of offences there. Not only were TPB missing from Dramatico but so too were the internet service providers ("ISPs") against whom orders under s.97A of the Copyright, Designs and P...

Netlog  is a social network based in Gand in Belgium. According to the "About Netlog" page on its website it is available to 95 million users throughout Europe in 40 languages. It claims to be "page view market leader" (whatever that may mean) in  Belgium, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Romania and Turkey and number 2 in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal. I am ashamed to say until I read the decision of the Court of Justice of European Union in C-360/10,  Belgische Vereniging van Auteurs, Componisten en Uitgevers CVBA (SABAM) v Netlog NV  [2012] EUECJ C-360/10 I had never heard of this important continental institution but, hey, I'm South British so what do I know. Apparently "On Netlog, you can create your own web page with a blog, pictures, videos, events, playlists and much more to share with your friends. It is thus the ultimate tool to connect and communicate with your social network. Massive Media NV has developed a unique localization ...

"So what is intellectual property ?" That is a question that I have been asked many times. By accountants and bank managers, clerks of factory chambers, instructing solicitors and even by fellow members of the Bar. Well now the Court of Appeal has provided an answer of sorts.   In  Coogan v News Group Newspapers Ltd and Another [2012] EWCA Civ 48 (1 Feb 2012) the question was whether mobile telephone voice mail messages were "intellectual property" for the purpose of s.72 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 and the Court of Appeal held that they were. The question arose in the context of the privilege against self-incrimination. Unlike the United States which safeguards this privilege by the Fifth Amendment of its Constitution, it subsists at common law (see Blunt v Park Lane Hotel Ltd [1942] 2 KB 253) and is reinforced by s.14 of the Civil Evidence Act 1968. But there are loads of exceptions to this rule as the Master of the Rolls noted at paragraph [16] of his ...

Specsavers  (Specsavers International Healthcare Ltd., Specsavers BV, Specsavers Optical Group Ltd and Specsavers Optical Superstores Ltd) are a group of companies which offer glasses, contact lenses and the like at competitive prices. Specsavers' Trade Marks Specsavers have registered the following Community trade marks: (1) 1321298 and 3418928 The word mark SPECSAVERS ( "the word mark" ); (2) 449256 and 1321348 ( "the shaded logo mark" ); (3) 5608385 ( "the unshaded logo mark" ); and (4) 1358589 ( "the wordless logo mark" ) The Claim Specsavers brought an action for trade mark infringement and passing off against the supermarket chain ASDA  (Asda Stores Ltd.) for the use of the following marketing materials: (1) the ASDA Opticians' logo as used in posters: (2) the following bill board: and (3) this leaflet: ASDA's Counterclaims ...