Latest Insights

Ed Sheeran Granted Declaration of Non-Infringement in “Shape of You” copyright case Ed Sheeran has successfully defended a claim for copyright infringement for his song “Shape of You” and was granted a declaration of non-infringement of copyright (Sheeran v Chokri [2022] EWHC 827 (CH)).   Background The song “Shape of You”, which Ed Sheeran co-wrote… Read more »

Freedom to Operate – Understanding the risks   There are many factors to be considered for a project developing a new product or process, but Freedom to Operate should not be overlooked. What is Freedom to Operate? Freedom to Operate, or “FTO”, is the ability to carry out commercial plans without infringing third party Intellectual… Read more »

Ongoing UK Involvement In The UPC The UPC is not relevant in the UK anymore, right?  Wrong. Following the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union there has been a subsequent UK withdrawal from the UPC.  On 20 July 2020 the UK deposited a notification of the withdrawal of its ratification of the UPC Agreement meaning… Read more »

What do Six Nations Rugby Union referees have in common with the UK IPO Appointed Person? There is huge pressure on referees to make the right decisions in big sports matches, and the Television Match Official (TMO) in Rugby Union has been cited as an example of how technology can help with this process. The… Read more »

Re-design the system – the UK IPO consults on the future of UK design protection First a quick quiz to see whether you should read this article.   Question 1 Can you explain the differences between registered designs, UK unregistered design rights, Community unregistered design rights, supplementary unregistered design right and artistic copyright? A: Yes… Read more »

Absolutely Not Registrable As a Trade Mark Attorney, one of the questions I am asked on an almost daily basis is whether new marks are registrable. As UK IPO practice is forever evolving, it can be helpful to conduct regular reviews of the kinds of marks being refused by the UK IPO. We take a… Read more »

Prosecuting green patents around the world The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) launched the Green Channel in 2009. The Green Channel is a scheme which allows applicants to request accelerated prosecution of patent applications directed to an invention which has an environmental benefit. Since the launch of the green channel in the UK, a… Read more »

European Commission launches feedback period on SEPs As part of the European Commission’s (EC) initiative titled ‘Intellectual property – new framework for standard essential patents’, the EC has now published a call for evidence and a public consultation on standard essential patents (SEPs).  This planned consultation was mentioned in our earlier article reporting the UK… Read more »

Monster trade mark appeal runs out of energy In joined cases T-758/20 and T-759/20, the General Court revoked EU trade mark registrations for the marks MONSTER and MONSTER ENERGY after Monster Energy Co failed to demonstrate that evidence of use of the mark on one product spanned two classes of goods. The cases concerned non-use… Read more »

Appeals to the Appointed Person in the UK – a RARE case of success relating to a missed counterstatement As discussed in previous reports – successful appeals before the Appointed Person in the UK are uncommon.   This successful appeal related to a failure by the proprietor of a registration to file a timely defence to… Read more »