News
All the latest news and views.
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IAM Global Leaders 2020
January 2020
IAM has launched a new publication IAM Global Leaders. It features interviews with many of the world’s foremost private practice patent experts.
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SkyKick ruling
January 2020
Specification of trade marks must be consistent with the essential function of indicating origin of the goods and services or risk being partially invalid for bad faith. Sky plc & ors v SkyKick UK Ltd & anor, 29 January 2019
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Special Report - Brand Protection Beyond Brexit
January 2020
Since the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016's referendum, HGF has worked to ensure that Brexit will just mean 'business as usual' for its clients. We conducted a survey with more than 120 companies, many of them world-leaders in their markets and industry sectors, with specific focus on the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland and The Netherlands. The findings are revealed in our 'Brand Protection Beyond Brexit Report'
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Brexit and Trade Mark Protection in the UK
December 2019
On the 12th December 2019 the Conservatives won the UK General Election. Their campaign was very much on a promise to "get Brexit done" and this provides more certainty on the outcome and timetable of Brexit.
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T0694/16 - New EPO Technical Board of Appeal decision regarding personalised healthcare inventions
November 2019
The EPO’s Technical Board of Appeal 3.3.09 in T0694/16 has clarified that claims to purposively selected patients for treatment with a known drug is novel over the prior art treatment of a broader and/or overlapping patient group with the same drug.
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MIP IP Rising Stars 2019/20
November 2019
Managing Intellectual Property (MIP) IP Rising Stars 2019/20 guide has been published. HGF are delighted to have 4 attorneys listed.
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Shanks (Appellant) v Unilever Plc and others (Respondents)
October 2019
On 23rd October 2019, the Supreme Court in the UK issued its decision in Shanks v Unilever [2019] UKSC 45 directing that an employee whose invention delivered significant profits to his employer was entitled to £2m compensation.
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Video: No-Deal Brexit Scenario Planning for Intellectual Property
October 2019
With Brexit deadline approaching, HGF Partner Dr Chris Moore is speaking in Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce video about what impact a no-deal Brexit may have on Intellectual Property, including patents, trade marks, copyright and registered designs.
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Brexit and Trade Mark Protection in the UK
October 2019
With less than 10 days until the current deadline for the UK to leave the EU expires on 31st October 2019, we are still no clearer, from a political point of view, as to what will happen.
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Clearing out the clutter – SkyKick may open up trade mark registers Across Europe
October 2019
AG Tanchev has given his (long awaited) Opinion in the case of “Sky v SkyKick”, proposing that the CJEU should hold that a lack of clarity and precision are issues that must be examined by the competent trade mark offices when they are dealing with an application for registration of a mark. Registered marks that did not meet the requirement of clarity and precision should not be declared invalid on that basis.
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