Company and business names: don't get caught out

There are relatively few statutory restrictions on the names that can be used by businesses in the UK. This is certainly true in comparison with the large number of names that cannot be used because they are protected by intellectual property rights. 

Pharmaceutical patents need a new lease of life

Patrick Duxbury and Emma Tuck ask whether the increasing cost of drug development, and the declining numbers of drugs being approved, mean that IP protection for life science products should be reevaluated.

Search engine sponsored links - developments for trade mark owners

Recently Google announced it had revised its Trademarks Adwords Policy in respect of the UK and Ireland. It would no longer investigate complaints by trade mark owners relating to the selection of their marks by third parties as keywords.

Comparative advertising trumps trade marks rights

On the last day of January 2008 Advocate General Mengozzi delivered his opinion in the O2 Holdings Limited & O2 (UK) Limited v Hutchinson 3G UK Limited litigation .

Why all brand owners should be worried by Advocate General

On 31 January 2008, Advocate General Mengozzi delivered his opinion in O2 Holdings Limited & O2 (UK) Limited v Hutchison 3G UK Limited (Case C 533/06).

Patent pools in the pharmaceutical industry – sink or swim?

Patent pools as a tool for the collective management of intellectual property rights are not a new concept.

An increasingly uneasy relationship - the English courts and the European Court of Justice in trade mark disputes

There is now a plethora of Directives intended to harmonize the national intellectual property legislation of the EU Member States.

Capitalising on nostalgia, re-awakening and exploiting long unused brands

In a challenging competitive marketplace, the importance of brands and how they make consumers feel and respond is becoming ever more important.

No infringement unless the sign indicates origin? Clairty and the Celine case

In the article "Here we go again...Trademark Use" Carina Badger expressed the view that, in light of the Opel decision, the European Court of Justice now always requires use of the offending sign to establish infringement.

Patent misuse in the pharmaceutical industry: developments in US & EU

The pharmaceutical industry has been scrutinized closely by competition authorities and Courts in the US and Europe.

Comparative advertising

The Misleading Advertising Directive as amended by the Comparative Advertising Directive is due to be repealed at the end of this year and will be replaced by the Misleading and Comparative Advertising Directive.

Patent entitlement: when inventions become monsters

Never has the commercial value of patents been so well understood in the business community as in recent years.

Room for improvement

On 6 December 2006, the long-awaited Gowers Review of intellectual property in the United Kingdom was finally published.