http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/01/never-too-late-if-you-missed-ipkat-last_21.html
If you were too busy to keep up with The IPKat’s quite patent-centric week, do not worry – this Kat is here to help you catch up!
| A Kat relaxing after finally catching up with The IPKat |
IPKat Book of the Year Awards 2024!
Anastasiia Kyrylenko reminded readers that the deadline to vote for your favourite IP books of 2024 is fast approaching! If you have not done so yet, do not forget to cast your vote here by 31 January 2025.
Trade Marks
Jocelyn Bosse summarised yet another long-waited judgment of the Court of Appeal of England & Wales: Thatchers Cider Company Limited v Aldi Stores Limited. The court concluded that Aldi’s packaging had taken unfair advantage of Thatchers Cider Company’s well-known trade mark.
Katfriend Edoardo Cesarini (GR Legal) discussed a decision of the Turin Court of Appeal on the protection of an unregistered trade mark consisting of a colour combination. After clarifying that the relevant colour combination belonged to Juventus rather than Adidas, the court ruled that it was a renowned distinctive sign of Juventus, granting it unregistered trade mark protection under Article 12, let. b of the Italian Industrial Property Code.
Marcel Pemsel reviewed a recent EUIPO Board of Appeal decision concerning the likelihood of confusion between two trade marks featuring the word “Oktoberfest”, which has become descriptive over time due to its widespread use worldwide. The Board concluded that the claims of likelihood of confusion should fail, as the identical or similar elements in the two marks consisted solely of the weakly distinctive, if not non-distinctive, term “Oktoberfest”.
Patents
Rose Hughes evaluated a recent EPO Board of Appeal decision reaffirming the validity of functionally-defined antibody claims at the EPO. In addition to providing guidance on obtaining patent protection for an antibody genus claim in Europe, the decision demonstrates the differing approaches taken by the US and EU regarding the patentability of antibody inventions.
Annsley Merelle Ward reported on the letter sent to the UPC Court of Appeal by the IP Federation. The letter calls on the UPC to refrain from imposing a blanket prohibition on in-house counsel serving as representatives before the UPC.
Katfriend Greg Corcoran analysed a well-known referral to the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO regarding claim interpretation. He discussed the EPO President’s responses to the referral and shared his views on their potential implications.
Rose Hughes commented on an EPO Board of Appeal decision shedding light on standards of proof in cases of alleged prior use. The decision suggests that the choice between the balance of probabilities and beyond reasonable doubt should not be the primary concern. Instead, the decisive factor should be “the deciding body’s conviction on the occurrence of an alleged fact, taking into account the particular circumstances of the case and the relevant evidence before it”.
Rose Hughes also discussed a recent EPO Board of Appeal decision concerning the interpretation of the morality exclusion under Article 53(a) European Patent Convention. The Board found that the contested invention contravened the principle of human dignity, as it allowed for the integration of human cells into the brain or germ-line of the chimeric animals specified in the claims.
IP News, Events, and Opportunities
Verónica Rodríguez Arguijo notified IPKat readers of several upcoming events and opportunities, as well as some developments in the IP world. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), in collaboration with the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) and the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI), will hold, in a hybrid format, the Geographical Indications Conference “Safeguarding our Heritage, Cultivating our Future” on 28-29 January; and the University of Antwerp will host the 2025 Annual Conference of European Policy for Intellectual Property Association between 10 and 12 September. She also highlighted two call for papers, one is for the WIPO Magazine while the other is for the Journal of Law, Market & Innovation. The IP news of the week was the announcement of the USPTO’s new AI Strategy, and the release of the EUIPO’s and EPO’s report, “Intellectual property rights and firm performance in the European Union”. For further details, do not forget to check out our latest Saturday Sundries post.
Content reproduced from The IPKat as permitted under the Creative Commons Licence (UK).