NIPC Law

Author Bengt Nyman Creative Commons Licence Source Wikipedia Judge Hacon's decision in  Absolute Lofts South West London Ltd v Artisan Home Improvements Ltd and Another   [2015] EWHC 2608 (IPEC) (14 Sept 2015) is an interesting authority on how to assess damages for infringement of the copyrights subsisting in photographs. In this case, His Honour considered the principles for assessing both compensatory and additional damages. The Parties Absolute Lofts South West London Ltd ( "Absolute Lofts" )  claims to be the largest loft conversion company in Greater London while Artisan Home Improvements Limited ( "Artisan" ) offers fascias, block paving and loft conversions in Bradford. The owner of Absolute Lofts was   Craig Colton  ( "Mr Colton" ) and the owner of Artisan was  Darren Ludbrook ( "Mr Ludbrook" ). The Facts At various times Mr  Colton had taken photographs of loft conversions that his company has ...

According to drugs.com , pregabalin is an anti-epileptic drug which works by slowing down impulses in the brain that cause seizures. A European patent for the drug was granted to Warner-Lambert Co, LLC  ( "Warner-Lambert" )(now a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc . ) under EP number 0 641 330. That patent expired on 17 May 2013 but was extended by a supplementary protection certificate ( "SPC" ) until 17 May 2018. That SPC was allowed to lapse on 14 Oct 2013 and Warner-Lambert's data exclusivity in respect of the data used to obtain the marketing authorisation for prehabalin expired on 8 July 2014. Since then anybody has been free to make, import or sell pregabalin for treating epilepsy and generalized anxiety disorder in the United Kingdom and several companies including some of the parties to these proceedings have done just that. Drugs.com notes that pregabalin also affects chemicals in the brain that send pain signals across the nervous system. ...

Bahamas Source Wikipedia Reproduced under a Creative Commons Licence Probably because it implements an EU directive and costs small business owners money to support a bureaucracy in Wilmslow and is cited by petty officials as an excuse for all sorts of irritations the Data Protection Act 1998  is one of the least understood and most maligned and least appreciated Acts of Parliament on the statute book. It does have its used of course and I for one would keep but I suspect that I am in a minority. If Parliament were ever to repeal this legislation the population would breath a mighty and very audible sigh of relief. In  Dawson-Damer and Others v Taylor Wessing LLP and Others [2015] EWHC 2366 (Ch) (6 Aug 2015) the claimants in an action in the Bahamas over the administration of a trust sued solicitors who had advised the trustees of that trust in England for an order under s.7 (9) of the Data Protection Act 1998. The order that they sought would have...

Although Judge Hacon's decision in  The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain v Clausen and Another  [2015] EWHC 1772 (IPEC)  was reported as a "victory" in the Independent ( The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain wins duel with German 'copycat' 3 July 2015) it was somewhat of the pyrrhic kind.   The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain  sued  The United Kingdom Ukulele Orchestra  for trade mark infringement, copyright infringement and passing off and applied to strike out the defence on the grounds of abuse of process less than two weeks before the trial. The claim succeeded on passing off but failed on all other counts. The claimants lost their Community trade mark and the judge saw no merit in the strike out application whatever. The case is an interesting one because it considers what can be protected by intellectual property. The parties were very similar acts.  The claimants' was described as follows by Judge Hacon at paragraph [1] pf his judgm...

Jane Lambert On 12 June 2014  La Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) . the French data protection authority, issued a notice requiring Google to apply de-listing from all platforms of its search engine such as Google Sierra Leone and Google Mongolia  and not just those like Google UK , Google  France and Google Deutschland that are marketed to residents of EU member states. In his post  Implementing a European, not global, right to be forgotten  30 July 2915 Google's privacy counsel Peter Flecischer stated that Google had refused to implement that notice and had asked the CNIL to withdraw it. It is possible that the CNIL will change its mind and do so but it is more likely that it won't.  In that case the President of the Commission could nominate a Rapporteur and ask him or her to draft a report recommending sanctions to be imposed on Google for such non-compliance. Google could of course...

A question that I am often asked at pro bono IP clinics as well as in my practice is who owns the copyright in a commissioned work when the graphic or web designer or software house fall out with their customer. The basic principles were set out by Mr Justice Lightman in  Robin Ray v. Classic FM Plc   [1998] ECC 488, [1998] EWHC Patents 333, [1998] FSR 622, (1998) 21(5) IPD 21047, [1999] ITCLR 256 and amplified and clarified by the Court of Appeal in  R Griggs Group Ltd and Others v Evans and Others [2005] EWCA Civ 11. The issue arose again in  Atelier Eighty Two Ltd v Kilnworx Climbing Centre CIC and Others   [2015] EWHC 2291 (IPEC). In Atelier a graphic designer called Rik Kirk made the logos shown above in August 2011. At that time he was an executive director of the design company Purple Penguin Design Ltd. of Timperley near Altrincham. He was asked to create those logos by one Lionel Bunting who was then a director of both the claimant A...

Jane Lambert In  Judicial Review of the Copyright Exceptions: British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and Others v Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills   20 July 2015 I discussed the order by Mr Justice Green to quash The Copyright and Rights in Performances (Personal Copies forPrivate Use) Regulations 2014  SI 2014 No 2361 in    British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors Musicians' Union and others, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Another (No 2) [2015] EWHC 2041 (Admin) (17 July 2015). A statement by the Intellectual Property Office on 20 July 2015 announced that HMG was considering the implications of the judgments and the available options. In the penultimate paragraph of my case note I wrote: "As Hargreaves has recommended that intellectual property policy should be evidence based it may be that applications of this kind will become more ...