• Lewis Hamilton! Lewis who?

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/lewis-hamilton-lewis-who.html Lewis Hamilton is one of the most successful Formula 1 drivers of all time. Yet he does not seem to be famous enough to get his name registered as an EU trade mark. The Board of Appeal of EUIPO (‘BoA’) recently confirmed that his application for ‘LEWIS HAMILTON’ conflicts... Continue reading

     
  • Never Too Late: If you missed the IPKat last week!

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/never-too-late-if-you-missed-ipkat-last_19.html Here is what you missed from the IPKat last week.  Patents Rose Hughes commented on the recent UK decision Astellas v Teva [2023] EWHC 2571 (Pat), in which the Court considered sufficiency, inventive step and infringement of the formulation patent, and highlighted how the decision is interesting for the... Continue reading

     
  • Sunday Surprises

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/sunday-suprises.html If you are challenged by the current weather forecast, we suggest you consider it a great excuse to spend a day in a conference room. Alternatively, you can draft an abstract while petting a cat, snuggling up under a blanket. Here are some ideas on how to explore these... Continue reading

     
  • [Guest Post] Event report: AI Fringe, Protecting Creators in the Age of AI

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/guest-post-event-report-ai-fringe.html This Kat was very happy to participate in the AI & Creativity: Protecting Creators in the Age of AI Panel which took place as part of the AI Fringe event on Friday, 3 November 2023 at the Knowledge Centre of the British Library, London. The event was Organised by AI Fringe (AI... Continue reading

     
  • “miababy” and “ia BABY interapothek”: Average phonetic similarity doesn’t offset low visual and conceptual similarity

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/miababy-and-ia-baby-interapothek.html The First Board of Appeal recently handed down an interesting decision concerning the opposition to the registration of a European Union word mark designating, among other things, pharmaceutical and baby products, grounded on Article 8(1)(b) of the EUMR. On this occasion, the Board of Appeal also ruled on the... Continue reading

     
  • [Guest post] Gilding the lily: The shiny challenge of registering gold soles as trade marks

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/guest-post-gilding-lily-shiny-challenge.html The IPKat has received and is pleased to host the following guest contribution by Katfriend Louise Rooms (Católica Global School of Law) on a recent decision of the Examination Division of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) concerning position marks (specifically: golden soles). Here’s what Louise writes: Gilding the... Continue reading

     
  • The difficulty of protecting olfactory marks

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-difficulty-of-protecting-olfactory.html Not too long ago, this Kat discussed how difficult it is to protect tactile marks because they cannot be represented in a sufficiently clear and precise manner (here). The same is true of other types of non-traditional trade marks such as olfactory marks, as a recent decision of the... Continue reading

     
  • Monday Miscellany

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/monday-miscellany.html During this cold November in the UK, warm up with some upcoming IP webinars. Exploring Content Moderation Challenges in the Metaverse On the 14th November, the Chair for the responsible development of the Metaverse of the University of Alicante, in cooperation with the G-IPTech Centre at the School of... Continue reading

     
  • Defining what the invention is not can be as important as defining what the invention is (T 0273/22, Chimeric antibodies/REGENERON)

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/defining-what-invention-is-not-can-be.html A recent Board of Appeal decision T 0273/22 related to a patent in the same family as that of the landmark UK Supreme Court decision Regeneron v Kymab. The Supreme Court decision related to whole range sufficiency. The Board of Appeal decision relates to the basis requirement for disclaimers. In particular, in this divisional... Continue reading

     
  • Never Too Late: If you missed the IPKat last week!

    http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2023/11/never-too-late-if-you-missed-ipkat-last_13.html If you’ve been too busy to keep up, this week’s Never Too Late is here to bring you up to speed on the latest in the IPKat world. This Kat is still digesting the latest Halloumi decision Trademarks Alessandro Cerri analysed the Republic of Cyprus’ unsuccessful appeal against the... Continue reading