Insights & News

UK proceeding with UPC (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 4)

07 February 2017

The UK government announced that it will proceed with the Unitary Patent and the Unitary Patent Court (“UPC”). This ends months of speculation in the patent community as to what would happen afterthe Brexit vote last June. The UK was a mandatory signatory to the UPC Agreement and there had been concern that the project would stall in light of the UK’s European exit. Only Germany is left to ratify the Agreement and it is expected that the UPC will open in December this year.

Employee claim to compensation under the Patents Act rejected

25 January 2017

Employees may claim statutory compensation if they are responsible for a patent of “outstanding benefit” to their employer.

Newsflash: Water tank manufacturers fined for breaching competition law

19 December 2016

The UK Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has today issued a decision against a number of suppliers of water tanks used in sprinkler systems, finding that the suppliers had infringed competition law by (among other things) agreeing to fix prices, rigging tender bids as well as sharing commercially sensitive information.

Lewis Silkin advises Be Heard Group Plc on its acquisition of Kameleon Worldwide Limited

Deal

15 December 2016

Lewis Silkin has advised Be Heard Group plc, a digital marketing services group, on its 100% share capital acquisition of Kameleon Worldwide Limited, an award-winning content marketing agency.

Image rights

Inbrief

27 November 2016

Famous sportspeople, entertainers and other celebrities derive substantial incomes from allowing themselves to be commercially associated with brands. It is big business, very big business, and because of this celebrities are faced with two very different problems.

Protecting your pitch: to NDA or not to NDA?

Press

25 November 2016

Geraint-Lloyd Taylor has written an article for 'PR Week' on using Non-Disclosure agreements when pitching to clients.

And finally...Brexit (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 3)

23 October 2016

Speculation about Brexit’s impact on intellectual property rights caused the UKIPO to release its guidance note “IP and Brexit: The Facts” in August.

Pay to play (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 3)

23 October 2016

Over the last few years, the Ministry of Justice has sought to fill the gap in its funding through repeated increases to court fees.

Hyperlinks – the saga continues (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 3)

23 October 2016

The CJEU has issued another judgment on copyright infringement and hyperlinking; this time in relation to linking to unauthorised content.

Karen Millen - lessons from an SPA (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 3)

23 October 2016

Karen Millen, founder of the Karen Millen fashion brand has lost a High Court challenge to use her own name for homeware in the US and China.

Brand owners gain another tool in the war against counterfeits (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 3)

23 October 2016

Brand owners will welcome a ruling from the CJEU over the summer that an operator of a physical marketplace can be an ‘intermediary’ for the purposes of Article 11 of the IP Enforcement Directive.

Pretty fly for wi-fi (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 3)

23 October 2016

Those who provide access to free wi-fi networks will be breathing a sigh of relief after the CJEU’s judgment this September that providers of such networks can benefit from protection under the E-Commerce Directive.

IPO doesn’t see anything wrong with Specsavers’ trade mark (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 3)

23 October 2016

Specsavers has managed to get its application to register “should’ve” (as in, “should’ve gone to Specsavers”) past the examination stage at the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO).

Can you tell what it is yet? (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 3)

23 October 2016

Those looking to register shapes as trade marks have had a tough time of it recently. Attempts to register the shape of a Kit Kat, various bottles and a toothbrush have all recently failed in the UK and EU.

Incentivising an influencer: towards greater transparency

Press

17 October 2016

Jo Farmer has authored an article for Digital Business Lawyer on the increasing use of social media personalities by global brands to advertise their products and services and the need to clarify when online content is paid-for advertising.

Lewis Silkin works with ISBA to create suggested vlogger contract for brands and influencers

Press

13 September 2016

Lewis Silkin is proud to have worked alongside trade body ISBA (The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers) to draft a new legal template for brands dealing with the emerging world of YouTube vloggers and other creators.

Naughty pics and controversial clicks - new guidance on hyperlinks to third party content

09 September 2016

The Court of Justice of the European Union yesterday released its judgment in GS Media v Sanoma, which is the latest in a series of judgments on the legality of posting links to third party content on the internet.

CMA undertakings with Social Chain highlight ad disclosure law

Press

19 August 2016

Head of Brands & IP, Jo Farmer has commented in e-commercelaw&policy regarding the CMA's announcement that it has secured undertakings from marketing company Social Chain.

IPO waves through “should’ve” trade mark application

17 August 2016

In a trade mark application that will raise a few bespectacled eyebrows, Specsavers has successfully managed get its application to register “should’ve” (as in, “should’ve gone to Specsavers”) past the examination stage at the UK’s Intellectual Property Office.