NIPC News

By Kai Hendry from London, UK - Televised Star Craft, - Stork vs JJU 1, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2531978   Jane Lambert According to the European Union Intellectual Property Office, the worldwide e-sports industry is worth over US$200 billion and has about 3 billion players (see James Nurton Game on: Navigating intellectual property in esports ,  10 June 2024 EU IPO website).  The appeal of e-sports is likely to increase with the establishment of the Olympic Esports Games .  A lot of money is invested in branding, technology and content creation, which will be protected by trade marks, patents, copyrights and other intellectual property rights. Infringement and licensing of those rights are likely to give rise to disputes between parties in different countries that cannot conveniently be resolved by litigation.  The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC ) and the World Intellectual Property Organization have recently launched...

Jane Lambert While hardly unexpected. the confirmation given yesterday to Joff Wild  and others that "the UK will not be seeking involvement in the UP/UPC system." is nonetheless regrettable.   No country stood to gain more from the Unified Parent Court and the unitary patent than the UK because it would have reduced considerably the costs of patent prosecution in Europe and patent enforcement in the UK.  That is why both the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property  and the Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property and Growth  urged HM government to push for a single European patent for the UK and other EU member states with a unified court for the resolution of disputes over such patents. The excuse given to Mr Wild and other journalists for this country's volte-face is that: "Participating in a court that applies EU law and bound by the CJEU is inconsistent with our aims of becoming an independent self-governing nation.” That was ju...

Jane Lambert In my June UPC Ratification Update 5 June 2017 I wrote: "There is every chance that the Court will open its doors before the end of this year." Famous last words! Two days later the UPC Preparatory Committee wrote that "the previously announced target date for the entry into operation of the UPC, envisaged for December 2017, cannot be maintained" (see   UPC – Timetable Update – June 2017 7 June 2017 UPC website). For once it is not out fault. Even though we are negotiating terms for exiting the European Union (see Brexit Briefing June 2017   30 June 2017 NIPC News) we remain on course to ratify the UPC Agreement well before we go. The last legislative hurdle is the ratification of the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Unified Patent Court  and that will be done by The Unified Patent Court (Immunities and Privileges) Order 2017 a draft of which has been laid before Parliament together with an explanatory memorandum . ...

Jane Lambert Art 89 (1) of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court  provides that the Agreement will come into force on the 1st day of the 4th month after the deposit with the Commission of the 13th instrument of ratification or accession including deposits of such instruments by France, Germany and the United Kingdom. According to the Council website , 12 states have deposited instruments of ratification. The last of these was Italy which deposited its instrument on on 12 Feb 2017.  Italy's ratification is particularly significant for two reasons. The first is that it had opposed the unitary patent in C-274/11 - Spain and Italy v Commission and others     [2013] EUECJ C-274/11 on the grounds that the implementing legislation was incompatible with EU law. The second reason why Italy's participation is significant is that it will be entitled to host one of the sections of the Central Division of the Court of First Instance should the UK be obliged ...

Jane Lambert Earlier this year I discussed mediation as a method of resolving IP disputes (see IP Mediation 22 May 2015). Mediation is a form of alternative dispute resolution ( "ADR" ) , that is to say resolving a disputes without going to court.  ADR offers a number of advantages which the World Intellectual Property Organization ( "WIPO" ) listed in ADR Advantages . As I noted in my previous article "the courts and the Intellectual Property Office ( "IPO" ) hearing officers expect parties to consider mediation or some other form of alternative dispute resolution before issuing proceedings" in every case. In that article I described mediation as "chaired" or "facilitated" negotiation. Like all forms of negotiation it works through consent. However. there are some disputes that can never be resolved in this way.  They require an  adjudication , that is to say a decision based on a finding of fact and law....

Jane Lambert Mediation can best be described as "chaired" or "facilitated" negotiation. It works because negotiations proceed through an intermediary known as "a mediator" who is often privy to information that neither party would disclose to the other. To show how mediation works I have uploaded two case histories: one on the resolution of a computer supply dispute  and the other a trade mark opposition  (see also  Mediating Disputes from the Trade Marks Registry   1 Sept 2005 NIPC Law). Both the courts and the Intellectual Property Office ( "IPO" ) hearing officers expect parties to consider mediation or some other form of alternative dispute resolution before issuing proceedings. Both have power to penalize parties who fail to do so by, for example, disallowing costs that they would normally have awarded to the successful party or awarding more costs than they would otherwise have ordered the unsuccessful party to pay. Th...

Jane Lambert In his Final Report in his Chancery Modernization Review Lord Justice Briggs recommended a closer focus on ADR at case management conferences ( "CMC" ) and, in particular, that "case management should be seen to be directed toward dispute resolution, rather than merely preparation for a full trial which is unlikely to take place." He specifically recommended requirements for parties to address the timing, type of and impediments to ADR in an expanded questionnaire before the first CMC and for the court at the first CMC to give detailed consideration to assisting the parties in the choice and timing of ADR. Traditionally, ADR has been seen as an alternative to litigation rather than a set of options to facilitate the speedy and cost-effective resolution of a dispute. It is perhaps one of the consequences of the decision in Scott v. Avery , (1856) 5 H.L.Cas. 811. In fact, mediation, early neutral evaluation and all the other methods of d...