Never Too Late: if you missed The IPKat last week

GuestKat Rose Hughes looked back at a busy year for the Enlarged Board of Appeal, examining, amongst others, some of the more controversial cases that 2019 brought, such as Pepper (G 3/19) and Computer simulated inventions (G 1/19).

Rose also provided a breakdown of some of the important Board of Appeal cases of 2019, which included highlights such as a new approach from the Board of Appeal on the novelty of purity inventions (T 1085/13), a couple of cases on the burden of proof (T 2037/18, T 1299/15) and a foreshadowing of the type of arguments expected to become more common following introduction of the revised Rule of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal on 1 January 2020 (T0688/16).

In a guest post looking at trade marks and image rights, Katfriend Andrea Rossi (LA&P) examined the dispute between the estate of the late actor and martial artist Bruce Lee and the owners of trade mark registrations which apparently represent his likeness.

SpecialKat Tian Lu looked at the decision of the England and Wales High Court, where HHJ Hacon confirmed that the ‘Babybel cheese’ 3D trade mark could not survive an application for a declaration of invalidity.

Kat Neil Wilkof explored why “Tipsy” is such an undesirable mark, looking at the word’s dictionary origins and a brand which took on this word in its brand “Tipsy White” wine.

Katfriend Darryl Ho discussed the treatment of full names under trade mark law, and how the matter was recently handled in the recent case of Multi Access Limited v Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited in Singapore.

GuestKat Nedim Malovic examined the trade mark applications made by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, who seek to register “Sussex Royal” as a UK trade mark.

GuestKat Antonella Gentile reported on the decision of the EU General Court in T-501/18, which concerned the validity off the word trade mark ‘cinkciarz’ (a Polish word, under the Polish People’s Republic, describing people who illegally bought and sold foreign currency) for goods and services in classes 9, 36 and 41 of the Nice classification for, amongst others, banking and exchanging money services.

Never Too Late 246 [Week ending 22 Dec] Book Review: The Parody Exception in Copyright Law | Monday Miscellany | Hague Court of Appeal stays enforcement of patent injunction | Maradona successfully sues Dolce&Gabbana over unauthorised use of his name on a jersey | BREAKING: CJEU rules that the provision of ebooks is an act of communication to the public (so there is NO digital exhaustion under the InfoSoc Directive) | BREAKING: Court of Appeal frames Article 3(a) test as one of “claim requirement”, but still upholds Truvada SPC invalidity | Book Review: International Copyright | Never Too Late: if you missed The IPKat | Around the IP Blogs | Is “fake” a four-letter word; ask the rhinoceros | EU General Court considers sign referring to cannabis contrary to public policy | EPO refuses “AI inventor” applications in short order – AI Inventor team intend to appeal

Never Too Late 245 [Week ending 15 Dec] Proving the existence of confidentiality agreements and the celestial teapot – T 2037/18 | [Guest Post] Federal Court in Australia Grants Injunction Restraining Unlawful Use of Scotch Whisky | Supreme People’s Court of China releases white paper on Chinese courts and the Internet judiciary | Never Too Late: if the missed The IPKat last week | General Election 10§9 – possible copyright infringement actually | The UK Government sheds light on the status of crypto assets and enforceability of smart contracts (Part I) | IPKat Book of the Year Awards 2019: Nominate your favourite IP Book of the year! | WIPO Public Consultation on AI and IP | CJEU rules on genuine use of collective trade marks