en Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:50:38 +0000 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdates Latest Legal Updates from D Young & Co http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-cadburypurple Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-cadburypurple Following an opposition from Nestlé, Cadbury has been successful in registering "The colour purple (Pantone 2685C), as shown in the form of the application, applied to the whole visible surface, or being the predominant colour applied to the whole visible surface, of the packaging of the goods" for "chocolate in bar and tablet form; eating chocolate; drinking chocolate; preparations for making drinking chocolate". Whilst their original application covered a broader range of chocolate... http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-r310 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-r310 The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO has granted on 14 November its second petition for review since the scheme was made available under the EPC 2000. In this petition R 3/10, the patentee and opponents had discussed novelty of EP1284604 during oral proceedings for appeal T-123/09. The Board of Appeal then explained that they were to decide on 'patentability' and made a decision on both novelty and inventive step. Whilst the Board of Appeal believed that it had been made clear to the... http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-smallclaims Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-smallclaims The Government announced on Monday, 15 November that a new small claims track will be introduced in the Patents County Court (soon to be renamed Intellectual Property County Court) some time next year. This is another initiative aimed at helping small and medium sized businesses protect their intellectual property rights. Details of the new service are not available yet, but the Government's intention is to allow damages of up to £5,000 per case and fix costs recovery at a low level. ... http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-rivastigmine Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-rivastigmine The High Court has recently handed down judgment resulting in the revocation of the Novartis patent and SPC relating to rivastigmine (Exelon®). This is a further action where the Court was faced with a patent relating to the resolved enantiomer of a prior art racemic compound. Unlike the previous occasions, the evidence presented was supportive of the conclusion that it would have been obvious for the skilled person to have resolved the prior art racemic compound. Useful links Generics UK... http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-plentyoffish Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-plentyoffish On 11 October 2011, HHJ Birss QC (sitting as judge of the High Court) released his decision on whether Plentyoffish Media Inc (the appellant) was entitled to prevent the use of Plenty More LLP (the respondent)'s UK trade mark PLENTYMOREFISH (word + 'fish' device), registered for 'dating agency services', on the basis of the appellant's alleged passing off rights in the signs 'PLENTY OF FISH' and 'plentyoffish.com' (used in relation to online dating services). Mr Landau (for the Registrar the... http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-daiichisankyotrips Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-daiichisankyotrips Case C-414/11 - Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited, Sanofi-Aventis Deutschland GmbH v DEMO Anonimos Viomikhaniki kai Emporiki Etairia Farmakon The captioned case relates to a reference for a preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) (as sought by the Greek Court of First Instance) and concerns the proper interpretation of various provisions contained within the TRIPS Agreement and, more generally, the relationship between EU law, national law and EU Member States'... http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-ohimmediation Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-ohimmediation OHIM has announced its intention to introduce a mediation service in relation to trade mark and design cases as an alternative to proceeding with an appeal. OHIM has a number of recently trained and qualified mediators who will act as 'facilitators' and, where requested, help parties to reach an agreement. It is understood that further details are likely to be announced in OHIM's official Journal on 3 October 2011 and will come into effect before the end of the month. At present, OHIM's Board... http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-ussenatepassesaia Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-ussenatepassesaia Following the US House of Representatives approval of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA) in June 2011, the US Senate has recently passed the draft legislation without amendment by a margin of 89-9. The enrolled Bill will now go before the President who is expected to sign the Bill into law shortly. This legislation will bring about fundamental changes to the way that novelty and inventive step requirements are assessed. Perhaps the most important change will see the US adopt a... http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-unsolicitedmail Mon, 12 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-unsolicitedmail It has come to our attention that some patent and trade mark owners are being targeted by unsolicited mail and email scams. These communications generally take the form of official looking letters, asking for payment to do something such as a renewal, or alternatively offering some kind of service, such as joining an online directory relating to intellectual property. Sometimes the letter will look like an invoice. If you receive any communication relating to IP about which you are suspicious,... http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-g111referral Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.dyoung.com/legalupdate-g111referral When the EPO's Search Division deems an application to lack unity it will draw up a partial European search report on the invention first mentioned in the claims. The applicant then has a two month period to pay additional search fee(s) to have the remaining invention(s) searched. This is necessary if the applicant is to challenge the non-unity opinion during substantive examination. According to Rule 64(2) EPC, the additional search fee(s) will be refunded if during substantive...