Posts under ‘European Union’

We have been keeping an eye on developments in the dispute over the APP STORE mark.  A new chapter in this interesting saga has begun. The challenge against Apple is bringing in more supporters and expanding to other jurisdictions. To recap, in our first blog we explained how Microsoft applied to the US Patent and [...]

The IPKat, reporting from the Fordham IP Conference, recently noted the upbeat tone of the keynote delivered by Victoria Espinel, White House IP Enforcement Coordinator.  While new technology may have rendered effective copyright enforcement a daunting prospect, and in the minds of some a losing battle, Espinel’s keynote at the conference, and the Obama Administration’s [...]

The debate over file sharing is increasingly being presented as a stand off between property rights and civic rights, as the new opinion from the Advocate General, adviser to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), now demonstrates. All the while countries rush ahead with innovative measures to clampdown on infringement. Getting a [...]

Large technology businesses including Google, Facebook and eBay are fighting a new law in France (Google translation) that would require internet companies to keep user data for a year. The French Association of Internet Community Services (ASIC) is to challenge the law infront of the State Council. Data must be retained so that it can [...]

270,000 businesses start up in Britain every year, and the new Start Up Britain intitiative hopes to promote entrepreneurship by offering reading material, business resources, discounts and a variety of other assistance.  Some legal resources are also available, to help new businesses steer a clear path through swathes of regulation, manage risk, and to offer [...]

The Data Protection Act (DPA), which is the backdrop for privacy protection in Europe, was born in the pre- web2.0 era; before the innovation of social media. New challenges are being posed by new technologies and one study (by RAND) commissioned by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) last year concluded that, “in an increasingly global, [...]

The Premier League is the world’s most watched and most lucrative football league in terms of revenue.  So, revenue from television rights is vitally important to it. The Football Association Premier League ltd. (FAPL) sells its rights in the broadcast of matches individually on a territory by territory basis. In order to access the service [...]

A trade mark can be refused where it is descriptive of the goods and services it covers. This could be where the mark ‘designates the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value or geographical origin’ of the goods or service or other characteristic. For example, ‘GOOD BOOKS’ would be a descriptive trade mark in a class [...]

In a competitive market setting your products apart from other people’s is key to maintaining an edge. Product design is often an important characteristic of a brand. It could even be the USP of the business. Where, however, the function of a product dictates how the design is formed then Intellectual Property law provides few solutions, bar patents, to protect the design. In general, Design law is clear that it does not protect the functional elements of registered designs.

When a site stores personal details for subscriptions, memberships or the like, there are certain legal regulations it has to take into consideration to stay on the right side of the law. The Data Protection Act sets out eight principles for the lawful processing of data.