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International Edition

SJ Berwin leads Sky to victory in key Microsoft infringement battle

SJ Berwin has advised broadcaster Sky on its successful trademark claim against Microsoft, whose 'Skydrive' cloud service was found to infringe on Sky's brand in the UK and Europe. The dispute, which began in 2011, saw Justice Sarah Asplin rule that the US software giant infringed the 'Sky' trademark in naming its cloud service 'SkyDrive', ruling that the name is likely to confuse customers.
2 minute read

International Edition

TLT recruits top-rated DLA Piper IP partner for Manchester launch

TLT has taken on a second DLA Piper partner as the expansive Bristol-based firm continues to recruit for its upcoming Manchester launch. The firm has sealed the hire of Manchester intellectual property (IP) partner Graeme Orchison, who has been a partner at DLA for more than 17 years and led the firm's northwest technology, media and communications group. He is top ranked by Chambers and Partners for Manchester IP work.
2 minute read

International Edition

Field Fisher's Abell joins Bird & Bird in new role after exit wrangle

Former Field Fisher Waterhouse franchising lawyer Mark Abell has joined Bird & Bird in a newly created position, after a protracted dispute with his former firm over his move. Abell quit his former firm in February this year and was suspended from the partnership. He subsequently turned to Herbert Smith Freehills litigation partner Alan Watts to represent him in a partnership dispute with Field Fisher, which is thought to have alleged breach of partnership agreement.
2 minute read

International Edition

Intellectual property

From Cliff's Law to the unified patent court, Legal Week rounds up the latest developments from the world of intellectual property.
1 minute read

International Edition

Five ways businesses can maximise their IP value

Intellectual property is a valuable asset for many businesses, but often this value is not recognised. Simon Crossley and Ben Jones of Eversheds explain how companies can make the most of their IP credentials...
3 minute read

International Edition

When the young ones get older – will extending copyright in sound recordings work?

The extension of copyright in sound recordings and performers' rights from 50 years to 70 years is due to take effect on 1 November. Known as 'Cliff's Law' – having gained the support of Sir Cliff Richard as well as a number of other high-profile musicians and record producers of the 1960s – it will apply to sound recordings that were first released on or after 1 January 1963. Although this change may be good news for some artists and the record industry, a number of questions remain about how it will work. While the underlying principles of the new regime are settled, having been introduced by a European Directive in October 2011, it is still not entirely clear how some of its key provisions will be enacted into UK law. Earlier this year, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) published draft regulations, which gave an indication of how the changes will be put into effect, and held a public consultation on the proposals. Interested parties had until 4 March this year to respond. This article is based on that draft.
4 minute read

International Edition

Mouse trap – a recent internet copyright case has implications for millions of web users

The Newspaper Licensing Agency v Meltwater is an internet copyright case with "implications for many millions". The English Supreme Court has said that temporary copies made automatically when browsing the web should not usually infringe copyright. As the issue is of importance to everyone who uses the internet, the court has referred it to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Meltwater provides an online newspaper clippings service that provides brief extracts from newspaper articles, and links to the articles, against a subscriber's search terms. It sends reports by email to its subscribers or provides them with online access to them. The issue for the court was whether, if Meltwater only provided its reports online, its subscribers would still need a licence to view them.
5 minute read

International Edition

A changing landscape – exploring the new IP and copyright legislation

UK intellectual property legislation is changing. First, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA), which received Royal Assent on 25 April, has been published, modifying UK copyright law, though not as drastically as some would have liked. Secondly, the Government announced in the Queen's Speech that it will introduce an Intellectual Property Bill to make changes to the law of design and patents. Copyright provisions ERRA includes, among other things, significant copyright-related provisions. It repeals section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This provision previously limited the duration of copyright in artistic works exploited by an industrial process to make articles, to just 25 years. The new ERRA provision extends the copyright protection afforded to such works to the usual period for most copyright works, of the life of the author plus 70 years.
4 minute read

International Edition

One size fits all? – some countries are still unsure of the benefits of an EU unitary patent system

A single patent that covers all of Europe has been a goal for more than four decades – and now with the unitary patent, we are almost there. The unitary patent and unified patent court (UPC) will have a significant impact on the litigation landscape and patent filing strategies in Europe. The main aim behind the development of the unitary patent system is to make Europe more competitive with the US and China, by reducing the cost of obtaining patent protection and also enforcing patents. Under the current system, a patent obtained via the European Patent Office (EPO) is in effect a bundle of separate national patents. There are fees and translation costs for each of these patents, meaning costs could go up to £200,000. In contrast, there are no validation costs in either the US or China and renewal fees are less than £10,000 (over the life of a patent).This disparity has led to sustained criticism of the European patent system and has been a major motivating factor for development of the unitary patent.
9 minute read

International Edition

Cautious optimism reigns across industry as partners hope for economic bounceback

As the number of firms announcing redundancy consultations this week continued to rise – with news of widespread cuts at Berwin Leighton Paisner – new research from Legal Week has found a surprising degree of business confidence among partners in UK law firms. Results of the latest Big Question survey how that more than 90% of partners expect to see revenues climb at their own firm over the next 12 months, with more than 80% expecting the same to be true across the UK's 50 largest law firms by revenue as a whole. The research found more than half of respondents (53%) expect to see revenue at their own firm climb by more than 5% over the coming year, with a further 41% predicting more modest increases of between 0% and 5%. Meanwhile, only 6% of partners expect to see their firm's revenues fall.
5 minute read

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