Intellectual Property

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Last month, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales handed down its judgment in the highly publicised legal battle between pop star Rihanna, and fashion giant Topshop and its parent company Arcadia Group Brand Ltd (Topshop).  The Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s July 2013 decision that Topshop’s sale of t-shirts showing a photograph of Rihanna – without her consent – constituted passing off.Continue Reading Rihanna v Topshop – UK Court of Appeal upholds decision in landmark passing off judgment

In December 2014 the European Commission published its 5th Report on the monitoring of patent settlement agreements in the EEA in respect of the period January to December 2013. The focus of the report was to gather some insight into the types of agreements being entered into between originator and generic companies and to identify the types of agreements that were resulting in a delay to generic entry to the market. While these types of agreements can potentially give rise to competition law issues the Report does clarify that there is no presumption of any legislative breach and that each case would require analysis of the merits and specific circumstances.Continue Reading Commission Report on the Monitoring of Patent Settlement Agreements

In the wake of its recent win against "screenscraper" website eDreams, Ryanair has claimed another victory following a referral from the Dutch Supreme Court to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) on the Database Directive (96/9/EC).

In brief, the CJEU held that owners of publically available databases, which do not fall under the protection of the Database Directive, are free to restrict the use of the data through contractual terms on their website. The decision in Case C – 30/14 Ryanair v PR Aviation BV marks the CJEU’s first copyright judgment of the year.Continue Reading Ryanair in another victory against the screenscrapers

The Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 has been enacted. It introduces a small number of amendments to Patents and Trade Marks legislation. 

It expands the research exemption in our patents legislation to benefit companies engaged in the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland. This will be done by providing legal certainty on the aspect of immunity from patent infringement where clinical tests and trials are carried out in order to develop new or generic versions of medical and veterinary products, while the derivative products continue to enjoy legitimate patent protection. The new provisions will apply to tests and trials carried out in Ireland for the purposes of getting regulatory approval of the new products anywhere in the world.Continue Reading Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 enacted

New Balance has kicked off a trademark action against Nike-owned Converse concerning its PF Flyers brand and the Converse trademark on Chuck Taylors. New Balance is requesting that the Federal Court in NY cancel the Converse trademark registration, which was obtained in 2013, so that they may continue selling their version of the shoe. New Balance has set out in court filed papers that the products are different enough and that consumers are unlikely to confuse the two. 

Last October saw Converse file a trademark action against 31 companies, notably not including New Balance, who they accused of infringing their trademark by producing knock-offs of their famous Chuck Taylor designed shoe. Should Converse be successful in this action New Balance has indicated their concern as to how such a ruling would be enforced.Continue Reading New Balance trademark action against Converse

Ireland has been ranked in 18th position globally and 11th in western Europe for the level of protection which it affords to property rights followng the publication of the International Property Rights Index 2014. The Index ranks 97 countries in respect of their legal and political environments, physical property rights and intellectual property rights.

Ireland is ranked one place higher at 17th globally in respect of its intellectual property rights protection. Most notably, it has been placed third globally and first in western Europe for its patent protection – a position which it shares with overall top ranked country Finland. This result should be further cemented by the proposed introduction of a local Irish division of the…

Continue Reading Ireland scores highly on International Property Rights Index

Canadian electronic DJ Deadmau5 (real name Joel Zimmerman) is currently locked in a heated trade mark dispute with entertainment Goliath Disney.

Zimmerman performs his shows while wearing a cartoonish oversized mouse mask with even more cartoonish oversized rounded ears. This symbol, which has been dubbed "Mau5head", also appears on his range of clothing and accessories, including everything from cups to USB keys. Deadmau5 and his Mau5head are recognised and followed by millions world-wide. In June 2013, Zimmerman sought to cement his creation by applying for trade mark protection with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Disney, fearing that its own intellectual property was…

Continue Reading Of Mice and Men

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has announced that Ireland will establish a local division of the Unified Patent Court. This of course is subject to Ireland ratifying the International Agreement (signed February 2013) on a Unified Patent Court by way of referendum. Under the terms of the International Agreement, Ireland has the choice of setting up a local division or participating in a regional division with one or more Member States. 

When operational, the Unified Patent Court will allow actions to be filed under patent legislation in a single court to decide on the validity of a patent throughout up …

Continue Reading Ireland to establish local division of Unified Patent Court

In the Irish Government Budget for the forthcoming year published on 14 October, it was announced that the so called ‘Double Irish’ tax mechanism was being phased out. One of the mechanisms that is being considered to replace the ‘Double Irish’ is a new ‘Knowledge Box’ scheme. This scheme would be similar to the recently introduced Patent Box in the United Kingdom and would be of significant benefit to intellectual property holders in Ireland and those seeking to establish themselves in Ireland. Commentators suggest the Knowledge Box scheme will include a tax rate likely to be at least as low as 6.25 per cent and perhaps lower on intellectual property assets managed in the scheme. A 6.25 per cent tax rate would be half the standard Irish corporate tax rate of 12.5 per cent. The exact scope and conditions for qualifying for the scheme have yet to be determined.Continue Reading Knowledge Box – Ireland’s new IP Tax Incentive

Last night saw the Dublin Web Summit host a special "Web Summit Schools" evening. Over 5,000 students from all over the country attended a lively and interactive evening hosted by Marcus Segal, the former COO of Zynga Games.

Coder Dojo had a huge presence at the event with a good majority of students confirming that they participated in different coding clubs all around the country. Coder Dojo is a global movement of free coding clubs for young people with a presence in 48 countries which was co-founded by entrepreneur James Whelton.  James was at the event interviewing child prodigy Adora Svitak. Adora, an inspiring …

Continue Reading Coder Dojo encourages coding at Web Summit Schools Event