Recent Articles

VW GTi OHIM CTM opposition: General Court confirms initial ruling

March 22, 2012 14:11

The decision of the General Court (European Union) yesterday in Case T-63/09 Volkswagen v OHIM - Suzuki Motor (SWIFT GTi) is only available in French and German, but the court considered so important that it merited its very own media release on Curia: Volkswagen cannot oppose the...

Property Rights in Personal Data: a book review

March 22, 2012 12:34

Property Rights in Personal Data: A European Perspective by Dr Nadezhda Purtova (Postdoctoral researcher at the European and Economic Law group at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) is the latest in Wolters Kluwer's Information Law Series. The topic could not be more relevant in today's digital world...

Zeus denies fire to Prometheus

March 22, 2012 11:56

“Madness,” “..lost their minds...,” “disaster for personalized medicine,” were a few of the thoughts that ran through this Kat’s head as he sat down to write this post. But since this is a sober and respectable blog, I will start with something more objective. Having fundamentally misunderstood...

Scrutiny Committee: red-line the unitary patent proposals (Part II)

March 22, 2012 08:58

To some, this bifurcation diagram is a whole lot prettier than what bifurcation of patent litigation can end up looking like.... The bifurcation issue Besides Articles 6 to 8, the issue that can divide some European patent practitioners the most is the issue of bifurcation. During the last...

Scrutiny Committee: red-line the unitary patent proposals (Part I)

March 22, 2012 08:52

The AmeriKat pestering her IT department to make her computer work this week... After a couple desperate "meows" over the phone to her IT department last week, the AmeriKat finally was able to listen to the latest, but improbable, last round of the House of Common's European Scrutiny Committee's...

Wednesday whimsies

March 21, 2012 18:09

"HOW MUCH did you say a gin and tonic cost!" Thespians rescue beleaguered Hobbit.  The Kat's post on the lamentable tale of the Hobbit public house being threatened by the owners of a bristling portfolio of Hobbit-related IP rights now has a sequel: leading actors [are they readers of this...

As easy as A, B, C

March 21, 2012 15:58

BAILII is one of the IPKat's favourite charities (you don't believe him? You can donate here). Otherwise known as the British and Irish Legal Information Institute, BAILII provides free and pretty well instant online access to all the main UK and Irish legal decisions, including those of England...

US and EP "opposition fees" compared

March 21, 2012 11:00

USPTO Director David Kappos has a blog post on his Director's Forum entitled "Comparing USPTO's New Post-Grant Processes and Associated Costs to EPO's". The title promises a little more than it delivers, as there's no actual comparison between the fees charged by the EPO for filing an opposition,...

"ZEE WHIZZ!" ZYDUS and ZIMBUS slug it out in Luxembourg Court

March 20, 2012 14:55

Given that Blogmeister Jeremy is attending the Pharmaceutical Trade Marks Group Conference in Brussels this very week, this Kat thought it prudent to tell you about a recent decision of the General Court of Justice of the European Union involving just that: Cadila Healthcare Ltd v OHIM and Novartis...

Ten days, four pages, one final fling?

March 20, 2012 10:34

The IPKat has learned that the UK House of Commons' All-Party Intellectual Property Group has announced that it is to conduct an inquiry into the role of Government in protecting and promoting intellectual property. According to this information put out on its behalf, "The Group has decided to...