News
All the latest news and views.
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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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Does a design have to be disclosed first in the EU to benefit from Community Unregistered Design Right?
October 2019
A case before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) has raised this important question in a direct reference to the Court of Justice of European Union. Not only is an answer to this question of crucial importance to design protection in the EU in its widest sense, with the Brexit on the horizon it could impact where UK designers disclose their designs for the first time, the UK or EU in a post Brexit world.
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HGF continue to be highly ranked in The Legal 500 United Kingdom 2020 rankings
September 2019
HGF ranked Tier 2 in the regions of PATMA, Yorkshire & The Humber, West Midlands and North West, in The Legal 500 United Kingdom 2020 rankings. HGF are also proud to have 17 “Lawyers” recommended with Partners Martyn Fish and Marie McMorrow listed as elite “Leading Lawyers”.
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The Vedanta Opposition: A healthy sign of a maturing industry
September 2019
HGF Partners Craig Thomson and Rachel Fetches comment and analyse the “Vedanta Opposition” in Microbiome Times.
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Reconsidering the liability of content sharing platforms for copyright infringement
September 2019
Under the current European Union legal framework, YouTube is protected under ‘notice and take-down rules’ – ensuring that provided it acts expeditiously to remove infringing content upon being made aware this, it will not be liable for such infringements.
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U.S. Copyright Office Submits Opinion in Favour of Led Zeppelin in Copyright Infringement Dispute
September 2019
On 8 November 1971, Led Zeppelin released what would become arguably the most well-known rock song of all time, ‘Stairway to Heaven’. However, in 2014, Michael Skidmore, trustee of ‘Randy Wolfe’ (aka Randy California), late guitarist with the band Spirit filed a claim alleging that Stairway to Heaven had used large parts of the Spirit song ‘Taurus’.
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G01/18: An appeal is deemed ‘not filed’ if the appeal fee is paid late and/or the notice of appeal is filed late
August 2019
The decision of case G01/18 has recently been published in French by the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA). The conclusion reached was that late payment of the appeal fee and/or late filing of the notice of appeal results in the appeal being deemed not filed.
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Do I really need a contract?
July 2019
Recent case gives an affirmative nod on this common question.
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FT - Europe's leading patent law firms
July 2019
HGF ranked 'Gold' in the Financial Times special report - Europe’s Leading Patent Law Firms
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