NIPC News

Author : Willh26 Licence   Creative Commons  Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert A recent decision of the Court of Appeal to enforce a non-disclosure agreement ("NDA") by means of an interim injunction has led to a promise by the Prime Minister to review the law relating to such agreements (see Court stops Telegraph publishing 'sexual harassment' story   24 Oct 2018 BBC website). While NDAs,  like any legal instrument can be abused, they are a very useful business tool.   They enable inventors to discuss their inventions with potential collaborators and investors before they are ready to apply for patents.  They prevent the disclosure or use of sensitive commercial information that may have taken years to gather.  They allow business relations to continue between parties to potentially damaging disputes. Earlier this year the trade secrecy laws of the 28 member states of the Euro...

Photo Adrian Pingstone Reproduction kindly licensed by the author Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert The IPO  has published details of the  China IP Roadshow 2017  when our IP attaché, Tom Duke,  will tour Scotland and the North of England between 18 and 20 Sept. My chambers are assisting with the Yorkshire leg of his tour and I can tell you that there have been a lot of enquiries and we are already into double figures with the bookings. If you want to attend the Leeds event call my clerk Steve on 020 7404 5252 or send him an email  without delay. Most British businesses do very well in China but things can go wrong sometimes. When they do, they can have repercussions here. That is where I come in.  Here are some of the problems that occasionally arise: The British trade mark of a company that applies to register that mark in China is opposed, invalidated or revoked; A company that imports goods from China for distribution in the UK fi...

Author Ssolbergj Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International Licence Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert Some homework for those who are coming to hear our IP attaché, Tom Duke , speak about Succeeding in China - How to mitigate IP risk in Barnsley, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London or Manchester this September. The Intellectual Property Office has produced a very helpful guide entitled  Intellectual property rights in China .   A quick read of this guide before he speaks will enable you to make the most of Mr Duke's talk, especially if you are new to the subject. Although our law differs from China's in detail the basic concepts are the same because China is a member of many of the same international agreements to which we belong. Thus patents protect new inventions. trade marks brands, copyrights literary and artistic works and so on. But there are some rights in Chima that do not exist in our law such...