After a Christmas full of German chocolate, French wine and Italian coffee, the UK has now turned its attention once more to its membership within the EU, and the impending lack thereof. With yesterday’s vote, Parliament voted against the deal proposed by the Prime Minister, to govern the British exit of the European Union. The…
The position which the UK may face if it leaves the EU with no deal in place, is discussed in a separate post accessible here. This post will discuss the Draft Withdrawal Agreement and its implications for brand owners, in the event that it is adopted in March 2019. The updated draft Withdrawal…
As set out in our previous post, the UK Government recently published a series of White Papers, detailing their envisioned protocol for the treatment of IP rights, following a no deal Brexit. Shortly after this development, the United Kingdom Government published the Withdrawal Agreement, as has now been agreed by the Cabinet. This document will…
In what has been considered a surprising decision (see for example previous comments in this blog here), the CJEU has recently held that the proprietor of a mark is entitled to oppose a third party which, without the proprietor’s consent, removes the sign from products and affixes other signs in its place, with a view…
With the likelihood of a no deal scenario increasing as March 2019 draws closer, the UK Government has now published a series of papers detailing the likely ramifications of a such a Brexit. Of particular note, the Government has published papers discussing the likely treatment of trade marks and designs, copyright, patents, and exhaustion. With…
A string of recent UK IPO decisions indicates that the Tribunal is willing to take a holistic and pragmatic view to an alleged bad faith filing. Many readers will be familiar with Michael Gleissner, the infamous modern day trade mark troll. Gleissner’s conduct has been scrutinised in a plethora of trade mark and domain name…
In the EU, any third party in possession of genuine goods put on the market in the European Economic Area (EEA) by the trade mark owner or with the trade mark owner’s consent is free to resell those goods within the EEA. This is because the EU imposes a system of “regional exhaustion”, which means…
After many months of uncertainty, we have now received a degree of assurance as to the manner in which EUTM and RCD rights will persist in the UK following Brexit. This assurance has come from Robin Walker, the Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, in a recent Parliamentary debate: UK-owned trademarks and…
In a recent Notice to Stakeholders, the European Commission has highlighted a possible outcome for customs and enforcement, following the British exit from the EU. Whilst this is subject to transitional provisions and the withdrawal agreement at large, it serves to reiterate the cliff edge which may conceivably be presented to UK based brand owners…
In a recent decision (Cartier International AGand others (Respondents) v British Telecommunications Plc and another(Appellants) [2018] UKSC 28), the UK Supreme Court has ruled that brand owners must pay Internet Service Providers’ (ISPs) costs for implementing website blocking injunctions. This is a reversal of the previous Court of Appeal decision, and whilst these blocking orders…
