Intellectual Property

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In an important decision for unregistered design right holders, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the CJEU) delivered its judgment yesterday in Karen Millen Fashions Ltd v Dunnes Stores (Case C-345/13).

Background

Karen Millen Fashions, a well-known British clothing retailer, claimed infringement of their unregistered design rights in three items of clothing by Dunnes Stores, a large Irish retail chain. The Irish High Court granted relief to Karen Millen in the form of an injunction restraining Dunnes Stores from using the designs and also in damages. Dunnes Stores, although not denying that it had copied the Karen Millen designs, appealed the decision to the Irish Supreme Court on the grounds that the items of clothing did not have individual character within the meaning of Article 6 of Regulation 6/2002 (The Regulations) and further that Karen Millen Fashions Ltd were required, under the Regulations, to prove that the design had individual character.

The Irish Supreme Court in turn referred two questions to the CJEU under the preliminary reference procedure.Continue Reading CJEU rules on unregistered design rights

In McCambridge Ltd v Joseph Brennan Bakeries  [2014] IEHC 269 (27 May 2014), the High Court considered the correct approach to assessing an account of profits for passing off.  The Court held that the defendant was obliged to account to the plaintiff for such portion of its profits as were attributable to its decision to dress up the packaging of its sliced brown bread in a get up that unintentionally passed it off as the highly-regarded loaf of the plaintiff.

The Court highlighted that the purpose of an account of profits is not to punish an infringer, but to remove from the infringer any unjust enrichment through stripping out the profits attributable to the infringement.Continue Reading Guidance on assessing an account of profits for passing-off

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has delivered its judgment in Public Relations Consultants Association Ltd (PRCA) v Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd and Others, Case C-360/13. The CJEU confirmed that internet users who read an article on a media monitoring website do not require a copyright licence from the publisher, as it falls within an exception to copyright infringement.

The decision provides reassurance to internet users that they can view media monitoring reports online without fear of liability for copyright infringement.Continue Reading CJEU rules no copyright licence required to view online media monitoring reports

The English High court has exercised jurisdiction in relation to foreign designations of a European patent. Arnold J gave a lengthy judgment of 376 pages, for which he made no apology, in the action between Actavis and Eli Lilly (Actavis UK Ltd & Ors v Eli Lilly & Company [2014] EWHC 1511 (Pat)). While there were a significant number of issues between the parties, the validity of the patent was not contested.

Actavis, a generic pharmaceutical company, had sought declarations of non-infringement in relation to the UK, French, Italian and Spanish designations of Eli Lilly’s European patent for an anti-cancer drug. The Court, in applying English law, held that they were entitled to such declarations despite the challenge made by Eli Lilly that the English court did not have jurisdiction over the foreign designations.Continue Reading UK ruling in multi-jurisdictional patent action

Last week saw the European Commission adopting a revised regime in respect of technology transfer agreements. The new agreements will enable companies to better licence the use of patents, know-how or software held by another company for the production of goods and services. The new Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER) and accompanying Technology Transfer Guidelines (Guidelines) will enter into force on 1 May 2014.

The TTBER and Guidelines will create a safe harbour for licensing agreements seeking to strengthen incentives for research, innovation and stimulate competition. Continue Reading Patent Pools making a splash

The UK Court of Appeal has issued a significant judgment on the scope of protection afforded by Registered Community Designs (RCDs) in Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd. The case concerned a claim of infringement brought by Magmatic Ltd (Magmatic), creator of the popular children’s ride-on suitcase range, Trunki, against PMS International Ltd (PMS), which manufactured a discount variant of ride-on suitcases inspired by the Trunki range. The Court of Appeal held that the trial judge, Justice Arnold, had erred in principle by disregarding surface decoration and colour contrast in his global assessment of the similarities between the two products.Continue Reading UK Court of Appeal Rules on Scope of Registered Community Design Rights

The European Union is promising its citizens better access to online music thanks to a new directive focusing on “the collective management of copyright and related rights and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use in the internal market” (the Directive). The Directive, which was adopted by the European Council on 20 February, aims to simplify and facilitate cross-border music licensing for online service providers. This is good news for Irish consumers who are typically kept waiting for innovative new music streaming services to hit Irish shores. Irish artists will also benefit from quicker, more transparent payments of performing rights royalties.

The Directive has two principle aims:

To facilitate cross-border licensing of authors’ rights in online music; and

To make copyright collective management organisations (CMOs) (also known as collecting societies) more transparent and effective.Continue Reading EU Overhaul of Collective Rights Management for Online Music

The CJEU has ruled in Svensson and Others v Retriever Sverige AB (C466/12) (Svensson) that providing a hyperlink to copyrighted works which are already freely available online does not constitute an infringement of copyright.  However, if a link allows users to bypass technical measures restricting access to a site on which a copyrighted work appears, then infringement may occur.

The decision had been awaited with some trepidation due to the essential role linking plays in the day to day operation of the internet. A contrary ruling would have created a serious barrier to the interconnectivity upon which the internet thrives.

Continue Reading Links to Freely Available Content do not Infringe Copyright

Earlier this week the UK High Court ruled that Lush (Cosmetic Warriors Limited and Lush Limited), the well-known manufacturer and supplier of colourful soaps and the "bath bomb", had successfully established infringement of its trade mark.  It was held that an average consumer browsing on Amazon, the defendant in the proceedings, in search of Lush goods would be unable to ascertain that the goods identified within the Amazon search were not actually goods genuinely connected with Lush. 

One part of the claim concerned the consequence of a consumer typing the word "lush" into the Amazon search facility.  Such a search would lead the consumer onto a webpage with suggested "Bomb Cosmetics" and other similar products, none of which are in fact genuine Lush products.  In fact, the Claimant’s Lush products are not for sale within the Amazon site despite the Lush registered trademark appearing.Continue Reading A win for a cosmetic warrior..