28th May 2020
For most people, the term “flying taxi” may conjure up images of Milla Jovovich crashing into Bruce Willis’s taxi in “The Fifth Element” in the year 2263 rather than feats of present-day engineering. However, a slew of long-established industrial giants, like Toyota, Boeing, and Airbus, newer tech giants, like Uber, Google, or Amazon, and disruptive start-ups of which there are too many to list, are doing their best to bring flying taxis from 23rd century science-fiction to present day reality.
27th May 2020
This blog covers invalidity decisions issued by the EUIPO during the first quarter of 2020, from 1 January 2020 to 31 March 2020. Our previous blog covering the decisions issued during the fourth quarter of 2019 can be found here.Registered Community designs (RCDs) protect the shape and appearance of new products across the whole of the EU. Since national court decisions on RCDs are rare, decisions by the EUIPO’s Invalidity Division help us to understand how the validity of an RCD is interpreted.
26th May 2020
In 2011 the EUIPO launched the “Convergence Programme” in order to improve the alignment of national and EU trade mark systems and to assist with the improvement of practices. The programme was based on regular exchange of information and discussion of issues among the EUIPO, national offices and user associations. On 1 April 2020 the EUIPO published CP9 Common Practice: “Distinctiveness of three-dimensional marks (shape marks) containing verbal and/or figurative elements when the shape is not distinctive in itself”.This sets out a two-step examination process for assessing the distinctive character of such marks.
11th May 2020
Innovation isn’t cheap. From research and development of an initial idea, through to IP protection and manufacturing, costs can quickly escalate and put an innovative business in a difficult financial situation. This article explores some of the funding opportunities and financial assistance available for companies that are registered in the UK.
4th May 2020
These past months have seen unprecedented global upheaval in view of the spread of the Coronavirus through Europe. Fortunately, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) have in place procedures to minimise the negative impacts on patent applicants and rights holders. We have been monitoring the situation closely and Pete Sadler provides the details.