NIPC News

L'Academie de Coiffure French satirical print from the 18th century Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert I found rather more materials on IP and hair and beauty industry than I had expected when I started to read the trade literature.  Sabrina Tozzi and Rachel Boakes of Baker & McKenzie LLP have contributed  IP and the beauty industry: cosmetic concerns? to Issue 50 of  IP Pro Life Sciences (12 Aug 2015).  Elaine Eggington of IP Pragmatics Ltd, has posted an interesting presentation entitled  Innovation in the cosmetics industry   to her company's website. There are also articles about free wifi with its implications for copyright and data protection in a discussion on free wifi in the Legal Lifeline section of the National Hairdressers Federation website.There are links to the PRS for Music  and Phonographic Performance Limited websites on the Hair Council links page . All of this suggests a wider than avera...

Jane Lambert While an employee remains on your payroll he or she is bound by an implied obligation of good faith and fidelity to do his or her best for you. He or she is not allowed to discuss your affairs in public or work for a competitor. As Mr Justice Laddie said in Ocular Sciences Ltd v Aspect Vision Care Ltd (No.2)  [1997] RPC 289, [1996] EWHC Patents 1, (1997) 20(3) IPD 20022, that has nothing to do with the law of confidence or trade secrecy. However, the employee is not your slave. He or she is entitled to seek work elsewhere or even set himself or herself up in business in competition with you. If the employee leaves your employment he or she is likely to use skills, knowledge and experience gained in your employment. There is nothing wrong with that even if you have spent time and money training the employee. After all, you see nothing wring in recruiting someone who has been trained by somebody else do you. Nor is it disloyal of the employee to atten...