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...

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...

Author Copyleft Licence AIGA Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert In her speech on  National and International-level concerns and developments regarding the IP landscape   which she delivered on 29 June 2016 to the British group of European Practitioners in Intellectual Property, Lady Neville-Rolfe, the Minister for Intellectual Property said: "The UK has one of the world’s best intellectual property environments. The changes that will be triggered by the outcome of last Thursday’s vote will not alter that. You can continue to expect outstanding, professionally delivered rights granting services including design rights; and copyright owners can expect that the framework will support creativity. The UK will continue to be envied around the world for the quality of its enforcement environment. We will continue to lead in international IP discussions. We will continue our work to build an environment that allows innovative and creative businesses across the U...

Author Charles Levy Licensed by US government Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert I apologize in advance to those who will be offended by this post. I acknowledge that a photo of a mushroom cloud is pretty tasteless but it is sometimes necessary to shock in order to drive home a point. And my point is that an intellectual property right ( "IPR" ) is a title to bring a law suit which, like weapons of mass destruction ( "WMD" ), has potency only if and to the extent that it is ever likely to be used. The reason why doubt can arise as to whether an IPR will ever be used is that civil litigation is outrageously expensive.  In Ungar v Sugg (1899) 9 RPC 117 Lord Esher MR said: "A man had better have his patent infringed, or have anything happen to him in this world, short of losing all his family by influenza, than have a dispute about a patent. His patent is swallowed up, and he is ruined." Despite cost capping in what is now the Intel...

Inaugural Conference of World Business Angel Association in Beijing 2009 Author JohnnyOnTheSpot  Licensed by the author Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert In IP's not just for Big Brands and High Tech Businesses  27 Aug 2016 I wrote: "In my career at the Bar, have known far more businesses that have failed from having too much IP than too little. Some of those failures had been caused by patents that cost many thousands of pounds to obtain but could never be worked. Others by disputes that were abandoned because the rights owner (who in many cases had a strong claim) simply ran out of money." In many instances, such patents and other IP rights were sought to attract, or to fulfil a condition for, investment. While it is understandable that an angel or private equity investor should desire the most extensive legal protection possible for his or her investment a patent for an invention that may never be worked or any IP right that the business cann...

Sacher Cake Author Illustratedjc Creative Commons Licence Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert At the beginning of the last century there was a bitter dispute between the Hotel Sacher  and Demel  over the right to sell the original Sacher cake  (see the " Legal Issues "  section of the article in Wikipedia ). I have been instructed in similar disputes in England (see Fat Betty, Bettys & Taylor Group Ltd. v Cheese & Co.   BL   O/163/09 16 June 2009) and briefed and consulted by just about every type of business from architects to undertakers. Every type of business owns at least some intellectual assets. It would not be able to function without them. And each and every one of those concerns relies on intellectual property law to remain in business. Starting at its most basic it will have its name and reputation. That may simply be the name of the owner or it may be a fancy name like The Golden Hind. Its products and s...

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), ...