• New referral expected to the EBA on the use of post-published data to support inventive step

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/new-referral-to-eba-on-use-of-post.html A Board of Appeal is about to refer questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) on the ability of a patentee to rely on post-published evidence to support the inventive step of a claim, and particularly to support the plausibility that the technical problem has been solved over the... Continue reading

     
  • [Guest post] China’s path to regulating facial recognition technology

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/guest-post-chinas-path-to-regulating.html Facial recognition technologies are already widespread in China, though their adoption and use needs to comply with a number of requirements. That is so especially after the highlight judicial regulation issued by the Supreme People’s Court of China came into effect on 1 August. The guidance addresses some sensitive... Continue reading

     
  • EU General Court considers bad faith claim in scenario of parties’ earlier cooperation

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/eu-general-court-considers-bad-faith.html Bad faith pursuant to Article 59(1)(b) of the EU Trade Mark Regulation (EUTMR), presupposes the presence of a dishonest state of mind or intention (Koton Mağazacilik Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret v EUIPO (C‑104/18 P)). In an interesting decision from June this year, the General Court considered that, even if... Continue reading

     
  • Sunday Surprises

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/sunday-surprises.html This Kat is looking out for IP events As the weekend draws to a close, there’s no better time to look ahead to new IP-related events and opportunities. Events BIICL (British Institute of International and Comparative Law) is running two upcoming short courses on IP-related topics: Copyright and Data,... Continue reading

     
  • Around the IP Blogs

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/around-ip-blogs.html This Kat is just back from a jauntaround the IP blogs While the summer pause is in full swing, the IP blogosphere continues to provide its insights. Copyright Dr Elena Cooper of CREATe (University of Glasgow) considered what might be revealed about copyright history from the story one of... Continue reading

     
  • Never Too Late: if you missed The IPKat last week

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/never-too-late-if-you-missed-ipkat-last.html Patent GuestKat Léon Dijkman published his farewell post, concerning amendments to German Patent Law. Said amendments limit the patentee’s entitlement to an injunction in infringement proceedings. Léon believes that this amendment is important not only for Germany, but for the likelihood that other European jurisdictions may now follow. In... Continue reading

     
  • Does the sign “eat clan people” carry an association with cannibalism and thus produce an “adverse effect”?

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/does-sign-eat-clan-people-carry.html On 29 November 2017, an individual named Seng Lei (‘Seng’) filed an application (No. 27792495) in class 30 for food products to the Trade Mark Office of China (TMO). The sign consists of three Chinese characters (shown below), i.e. Hanzi: ‘食 (eat) 族 (clan) 人 (people)’.  Kat’s preliminary side... Continue reading

     
  • Book review: Harnessing Public Research for Innovation in the 21st Century

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/book-review-harnessing-public-research.html Previous Guest Kat Rosie Burbidge, Intellectual Property Partner at Gunnercooke LLP and author of European Fashion Law, returns with a review of Harnessing Public Research for Innovation in the 21st Century An International Assessment of Knowledge Transfer Policies, edited by Anthony Arundel (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University and University of Tasmania), Suma... Continue reading

     
  • AG Øe advises that partial designs may be protected as unregistered designs

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/ag-e-advises-that-partial-designs-may.html Just before closing down for summer vacation, Advocate General (AG) Saugmandsgaard Øe issued his Opinion in Case C-123/20 concerning the protectability of ‘partial designs’ (design rights for part of a product) as an unregistered Community design right. The request for preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the... Continue reading

     
  • Legal tender in El Salvador: First the U.S. dollar, and now Bitcoin

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2021/08/legal-tender-in-el-salvador-first-us.html Kat friend Francisco Martínez summarizes the main points of the Bitcoin law recently enacted in El Salvador. On June 8, 2021, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador adopted the Bitcoin Law, which will enter into force on September 9, 2021. The law aims to promote economic growth for the... Continue reading