PatWorld - Designs & Trade Marks

Last week I had the privilege of speaking on behalf of HGF Limited at an excellent event co-hosted by The Institute of Directors (IoD) IoD Japan Business Group and JETRO - Japan External Trade Organization which focused on how partnerships with Japanese companies can catalyse growth for UK SMEs. A big thank you to Akihiro Kudo for moderating the panel and to Sarah Parsons of EAST WEST INTERFACE for her valuable insights on corporate transparency and risk management. The event was chaired by Dr Indranil Nath, Chair of the IoD Japan Business Group, and Vice Chair Rie Hamaguchi, with the support of Japan House London, the Osaka Prefectural Government and the Osaka City Government. It was an honour to share a stage with Sam Thorne (Director General of Japan House London); Hideyuki Yokoyama (Mayor of Osaka City); Kyoichiro Kawakami (Economic Minister at the Embassy of Japan in the UK); Westminster's Lord Mayor, Councillor Robert Rigby; Hideo Yura (Director General of JETRO); Masahide Sakishige (Deputy Director General of JETRO)); and Lord Hugh Trenchard; the highly knowledgeable panellists: Johnny J Pawlik - Founder, Conference Speaker, Interim CMO 🇬🇧🇯🇵 (CEO of Mantra Media); Richard Crosfield (Presidio Venture Europe); Jason Frank (Re:Adapt Data Science); and Tsubasa Hotta (Tractable); and the wonderful MCs Ai S. and Rosie Slater. I also really enjoyed the traditional Noh performances by Sakurako Tanaka and the Japan House London exhibition on Japan's food replica culture.

The restaurant chain "PHO" recently surrendered its #trademark. I popped along to our local branch to explain why it may be a "pho"ss 😉over nothing

If you’re attending PTMG (Pharmaceutical Trade Marks Group)’s Conference in Malta, please reach out to Lucy Pope. She’s got a wealth of experience in this area and is great at tailoring her advice to suit a client’s needs.   #TradeMarks #Pharma

Another fantastic event arranged by the awesome Bread & Jam team. It was a pleasure to give a short talk on brand protection and to meet so many exciting emerging drink brands, particularly in the functional drinks category. Looking forward to the next one! 🍵 🍾 🍷 🍺 🍸 🍹 ☕ 🥛

Do you want to start your career as a #CharteredTradeMarkAttorney at Mewburn Ellis? Find out more below ⏬

Happy new patent Tuesday! Today we have 973 new design patents, including D1047165 issued for a yoga foam roller. Cuddly? Creepy? No matter what your take is on this, the important thing to consider is how the product looks post-manufacture before you file the design patents. An infringer looks to copy your product first and if your design patent doesn't depict your product, your "infringer" may not copy it either. #DesignPatent https://lnkd.in/gZGYcBB6

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at the CMS #BrandForum in London, where I joined forces with the brilliant Tom Scourfield to delve into recent EU and UK case law. One of the cases I discussed involved #Jägermeister – a choice inspired by both my affinity for the drink and Jordi Güell’s insights during our presentation at #INTA 😉 ▶️ The well-known supermarket chain SPAR launched a herbal liquor called KRÄUTERLIKOR under its discount label, S-BUDGET. ▶️ Jägermeister alleged that SPAR’s product infringed on its rights to the iconic digestif. ▶️ SPAR argued that the products had completely different names – KRÄUTERLIKOR vs. #JÄGERMEISTER – and that the prominent red S-BUDGET logo sufficiently differentiated them. ▶️ The case reached the Austrian Supreme Court, which was not persuaded by SPAR's arguments. The court noted that SPAR’s product used the same colour scheme as Jägermeister, the names were displayed in very similar fonts on an orange banderol, and both products prominently featured a pictorial representation of a deer’s head. ⛔ Ultimately, the court determined that the look-alike visual appearance of SPAR’s product infringed upon and took unfair advantage of Jägermeister’s fame. 🔎 Key takeaway? While verbal elements are considered to have a stronger impact on consumers than visual ones, simply choosing a different brand name is not always sufficient. Copying the visual appearance of a well-known product - even if not 1:1 - can lead to legal trouble! #cmslaw #trademark #trademarklaw #brandprotecion CMS UK CMS Poland CMS Intellectual Property #iplaw

Another interesting #trademark judgment from the Court of Appeal, this time confirming that it will be more difficult to establish that your trade mark is being infringed in a market where others are using marks close to yours. A crowded market will reduce the distinctive character of your mark and lower the risk of consumer confusion. I have written a brief article on the Court of Appeal’s decision for World Trademark Review. Thank you to WTR for publishing it! 👇

A great opportunity to join our team in London #job #brands #legalcounsel #trademarks #copyright #bp

Lord Justice Arnold has today granted permission to appeal in the Morley's (Fast Foods) Ltd v Sivakumar case. This was a decision of HHJ Melissa Clarke in a trade mark dispute between rival chicken shops (Morleys v Metros). Brandsmiths act for the Defendants. One ground of appeal relates to the likelihood of confusion finding. The judge based this only on one subset of average consumers said to be late night revellers who were intoxicated and/or tired and on the hunt for fried chicken. We say such a person cannot be an average consumer. The case law makes clear the average consumer is deemed to be reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant and circumspect. Excluded from consideration those who are either ignorant or have specialist knowledge and those who are either careless or excessively careful. It is difficult to see how an intoxicated and/or tired person can fall within this definition as they will be careless and certainly not observant. There are also a number of other grounds of appeal. Should be an interesting appeal! #ip #appeals #trademarks