Insights & News

Public goes nutellay crazy for AI design (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)

23 June 2017

Nutella hit the headlines in February this year after using an algorithm to produce millions of unique labels in Italy. The jars flew off the shelves with customers keen to get their hands on a one-of-a kind jar. Each label design was completely unique with only the Nutella logo remaining the same.

Champagne supernova: Cristal brand owner sues cava producer (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)

23 June 2017

Do you know your Champagne from your Cava? Quite possibly, but a High Court judge held in late 2015 that a Spanish cava producer trading under the brand name, “Cristalino” had used a confusingly similar sign to that of the famous tipple preferred by rappers and the like, “Cristal”.

All hands on deck as creative industries and search engines tackle online piracy (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)

23 June 2017

The UK Government, through the UKIPO, Ofcom and DMCS, has helped broker an agreement between Google, Bing, the BPI and Motion Picture Association over a new voluntary code of practice.

To UPC or not UPC – implementation of Unified Patent Court delayed (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)

23 June 2017

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is intended to provide a regional forum resolve patent disputes. At the moment, parties have to litigate patent disputes on a country by country basis across Europe, which is time-consuming, expensive and can lead to differing decisions in some countries. UPC decisions will have effect in all 25 states participating in the UPC, providing a single forum to resolve these disputes.

Playing with fire: user-generated content on Twitter (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)

23 June 2017

The strange world of Twitter, where brands engage with their customers at their peril. The main lesson learned from the recent #WalkersWave Twitter promotion is one that brands have heard before: the British public love nothing more than a piss-take.

Clash of the Titans: Google v Uber (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)

23 June 2017

In February, Waymo, part of Google’s parent company, sued Uber for theft of confidential information. Allegedly, a former employee of Waymo, who had been a key part of Google’s driverless car initiative, took 14,000 files and then shortly jumped ship to start up his own autonomous vehicle company. A short time later, Uber acquired the start-up for $680 million.

Servicing trade mark infringement

22 June 2017

The use of a third party trade mark to provide information or describe a service being offered does not necessarily constitute trade mark infringement. Where the use of a trademark goes beyond that and creates an impression in the average consumer that the particular serviced is authorised by the trade mark owner, this will constitute an infringement.

Validly serving a Statutory Demand is a prerequisite for presenting a Bankruptcy Petition

22 June 2017

The court has stressed the importance of validly serving a Statutory Demand before presenting a Bankruptcy Petition. The creditor must do all that is reasonably required to bring the service of the Statutory Demand to the attention of the debtor. Without effectively serving a Statutory Demand on the debtor, presenting a valid Bankruptcy Petition is impossible.

Service of a claim form on an agent - was it valid?

22 June 2017

In a recent case the High Court considered as a preliminary issue whether a claimant had validly served a claim form on what they considered was the agent of the claimant. The rules of service require that the defendant must be served at the place within the jurisdiction where it conducts business, or where it carries on its activities and which has a real connection with the claim. Therefore the question here was whether the agent’s office was a place at which the defendant conducted its business, or where it carried on its activities?

Putting a squeeze on patent licences

20 June 2017

The recent case of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co Ltd v UCB Pharma SA & Celltech R&D Ltd [2017] EWHC 216 (Pat)

Lewis Silkin delighted to be associated with long standing client Sager House (Almeida) Limited

Deal

20 June 2017

Lewis Silkin is delighted to be associated with long standing client Sager House (Almeida) Limited (a joint venture between the Sager Group of companies and US investment fund Cain Hoy) in providing legal services for the delivery of a major mixed use development of the former North London Post Sorting Office off Upper Street, Islington.

Beware of handing matters over to the court’s discretion

16 June 2017

How often in negotiations do parties “duck” issues deemed “too difficult” and try to cope with them by adopting “reasonable” (or other) “endeavours” obligations?

Paying different dividends to different share classes: as easy as A, B, C?

16 June 2017

Giving a company the ability to pay different rates of dividend to different shareholders can be a useful tool.

What is an independent witness?

16 June 2017

If we send you a document to sign and say that you need to have someone, who is independent, “witness” your signature, there’ll be space under the section for your signature for the witness to sign and insert their contact details.