NIPC News

UK Supreme Court Author Kelsey Farish   Licence CC BY 4.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Last week's Winter Intellectual Property Conference  by CTC Legal Events was different from almost every  IP conference or seminar that I had previously attended.  For a start, there were very few slides.  I had prepared some for my talk on FRAND, as had  Maria-Christina Peyman of Birketts for her review of leading IP cases, but most of the topics were moderated discussions.  Secondly, the conference took place in  the magnificently equipped London campus of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business .  Thirdly, the organizers attracted some of the biggest names in IP, such as Professor Sir Robin Jacob, a former Lord Justice of the Court of Appeal and Sam Williams, Head of Intellectual Property at Siemens.  A lot of information was squeezed into the 5th and 6th of November.  The organizers covered that grou...

Jane Lambert   In 2016 I launched NIPC Branding  for entrepreneurs, business owners, angel investors and others who needed to know about trade marks , passing off , domain names  and other aspects of branding law  in everyday language. One of my most popular articles was introductions to English and EU trade mark law called "Auntie Jane's Trade Mark Tips". These were intended for non-lawyers but several lawyers told me that they had read and enjoyed them. The original series covered the following topics some of which I updated yesterday: "The Very Basics" - 8 June 2017 "EU and British Trade Marks" 9 June 2017 (updated 23 May 2022) "Where to find the Law " 10 June 2017 (updated 23 May 2022) " What is a Trade Mark" 12 June 2017 (Updated 23 May 2022) "How do I register a Trade Mark"  13 June 2017 " Some of the Things that can go wrong " 15 June 2017 " Some more Things that can go wrong " 27 July 2017 ...

Business and Property Courts The Business and Property Courts in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Manchester and London went live yesterday. I discussed them in Launch of a Judicial Superhighway   on 12 July 2014 in IP North West and  The Leeds Business and Property Courts   on 12 July 2017 in IP Yorkshire. On 27 Sept 2017, the Judiciary issued a new 14-page advisory note  which I mentioned in   Better than the M4 - "The Judicial Superhighway"  2 Oct 2017. Relevance  This topic affects IP practitioners and owners as well as litigation lawyers throughout the UK, particularly those in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds and Manchester. Commonwealth Games Birmingham has been chosen as the UK's candidate city to host the Commonwealth Grounds. Like all other major sporting events, the Games will rely on sponsorship, broadcasting and licensing revenues but, unlike the Olympics, there is nothing like the Nairobi Treaty or Olympic asso...

Jane Lambert I have just launched a new blog called NIPC Branding  which covers trade marks and branding for startups and other small businesses. This blog has grown out of my public access practice. On the About page I explain that "difficulties have arisen that could have been avoided, or opportunities missed that could have been exploited, had the persons involved been made aware of the issue in advance." The purpose of this blog is discuss those issues and the countermeasures that can be taken to avoid the difficulties and steps that can be taken to exploit the opportunities. I also set out the services that I offer and how I can be instructed if anyone wants further advice or assistance. The very first post addresses the question of whether an entrepreneur can apply for a trade mark by him or herself or whether he or she should instruct a trade mark attorney (see  Can I apply for a Trade Mark by myself or must I instruct an Attorney?   31 Ma...

Combine Harvester Author Brian Forbes Source Wikipedi a  Creative Commons  Licence Jane Lambert According to the  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (" DEFRA" ) , some 476,000 individuals in the UK were employed or engaged in agriculture contributing £9.9 billion to the country's gross value added in 2014 (see  Agriculture in the United Kingdom 2014   DEFRA and devolved administrations). Branding As most consumers purchase their food from intermediaries there are limited opportunities for farmers who supply those intermediaries to distinguish their produce from those of their competitors. The position is, of course, different if they market directly to the public through their own farm shops or other retail outlets that they control or influence. If they can build up reputation or goodwill it makes sense to register the name, logo or other sign by which they are identified in the market as a UK trade mark. If...

Jane Lambert Our IP system, which is ranked by TaylorWessing as one of the best in the world (see The Global Intellectual Property Index ) consists of some rights that subsist under national law and others that subsist under EU law. When we eventually leave the EU, those rights that subsist under EU law such as the EU trade mark and the Community design will fall away. I discussed those consequences generally in What Sort of IP Framework do we need after Brexit and what are we likely to get?   3 July 2016. In this article I consider how those changes will affect the British fashion industry which relies on EU trade marks and Community designs more than most. I have chosen this industry because I have conducted seminars on IP and fashion in London and Leeds (see  IP and Fashion Law   12 Sept 2015 London IP and Tech,  IP and Fashion Seminar - 7 Oct 2015   20 Sept 2015 and  Second Course on IP and the Fashion Industry   27 May 2016), ...

' Dream Dance' workshop from Rae Piper on Vimeo .  Jane Lambert As part of the Lincoln Inspired Festival 2014 , the Chantry Dance Company delivered a workshop in which the participants were guided in creating their own modern ballet piece based on the subject of dreams. The piece seen in the video was created by the dancers in just 2 hours! You can read all about it in "Chantry Dance Company's Sandman and Dream Dance"  10 May 2014 Terpsichore. As I noted in  Chantry Dance Summer School  2 Aug 2014 the company does great educational and outreach work bringing dance into prisons and care homes as well as theatres. Ballet Cymru does great work with Gloucester Dance (see  "'Stuck in the Mud' doesn't mean you're stuck"  25 June 2014 Terpsichore ). Valuable educational and outreach work is also done by Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet. Much of this work depends on sponsorship by businesses and individuals and companies in the...