News and Events
The world of IP is fast moving, and on this page we provide ongoing headlines of matters which may be of interest to you, along with a link to one of our attorneys who can fill you in with some more details and see how we may be able to assist you. Topics of particular importance are discussed in more detail in our Hot Topics section which you can access from the left hand column.
You will also find on this page news from the firm, including important achievements from members of our team.
Our attorneys are also called upon to lecture on IP matters and we regularly attend events and conferences around the world to develop our relationships with clients and overseas attorneys. You can see below details of who may be at an event near you, or upcoming seminars that may be of interest.
IP News
United Kingdom Trade Mark News...
An amendment to the Companies Act 2006 establishing The Company Names Tribunal and a process for objecting to opportunistic company name registrations will come into force on 1 October 2008.
The new provisions recognise the difficulties which businesses face resulting from an opportunistic company name registration, akin to "cyber squatting", and introduce an adjudication process, to remove a registration which is considered to be opportunistic.
While the new procedure is not designed to address situations in which there is a genuine dispute between two parties over ownership of a company name, it will increase the remedies available to a brand owner to prevent a competitor unfairly taking advantage of its established goodwill.
The Government has published new Trade Mark Rules which, when signed, will come into force on 1 October 2008.
The aims of the new Rules are to consolidate existing amendments removing any duplication and inconsistencies to make the Rules more accessible; bring the UK fully into line with international best practice and enable ratification of the Singapore Treaty on Trade Mark Law and make the tribunal system more flexible, efficient and proportionate to better serve users of the Trade Marks system. The main change is a reduction in the period for filing Oppositions from three months to two months, although an additional one month can be requested for for filing an Opposition. This reduction should speed up the time to obtain registrations, although it will place more emphasis on ensuring watches are in place to see if any conflicting marks are advertised.
We at UDL were pleased to be one of the main consultees in the process of drafting the new rules, consolidating our position as recognised experts in this area of Intellectual Property in the united Kingdom. We will shortly be producing a factsheet on the main changes.
United Kingdom Patent News...
The House of Lords has issued a decision in the case of Conor Medsystems v Angiotech Pharmaceuticals which brings the United Kingdom closer towards the European Patent Office in assessing obviousness.
The Lords overruled earlier UK court decisions and upheld the Angiotech patent. The patent had previously been opposed at the EPO and upheld. The Lords held that when considering the question of whether or not an invention is inventive, a patent specification must disclose the invention in sufficient detail to make the invention plausible. The decision emphasises the need to ensure a patent is drafted to support the invention claimed. The decision probably also means that it will be harder to attack patents in the United Kingdom on the grounds of "obvious to try".
For more information on this case, and its implications, please contact Mark Green on the email below.
