October 20, 2008

A database right was first introduced in Europe in 1996 though the Database Directive. Under the Directive the maker of a database has the right to prevent the “extraction and/or re-utilisation of the whole or of a...

October 31, 2008

The US has been one of the few jurisdictions which allow methods or ways of doing things to be registered for patent protection. This type of patent might be narrowed significantly by a recent ruling by a US Appellate Court. ...

November 1, 2008

Elvis Presley [1997] R.P.C. 543 and Linkin Park [2006] E.T.M.R. 74 are examples of cases which have highlighted the problems that can arise when famous people or groups try to protect their name through trademark law, in order to...

November 1, 2008

When police and trading standards officers raided his home they found 1,640 DVDs of feature films, 457 DVDs of pornography and 232 music CDs, all of them pirated, and bearing the logos of EMI and other companies.  The...

November 9, 2008

When finding out his bottle was a possible infringement of the Westmalle Belgian ringed bottle (trademark rights in which had been assigned to the New Belgium Company in Colorado) Mr Hindy, the owner of the Brooklyn Brewery was...

November 10, 2008

The new Company Names Adjudication System was launched on 1 October in line with section 69 Companies Act 2006. The new system aims to reduce the number of opportunistic company name squatters who incorporate companies with a...

November 10, 2008

The area of lotteries, prize draws, prize competitions and instant win promotions was reformed by the Gambling Act 2005 (the Act) which came into force on 1st September 2007.

 The general consensus is that the changes have...

November 10, 2008

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regulates the content of advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing in the UK.  The ASA is tasked to apply the advertising standards codes. (The principle code is the...

November 14, 2008

Much has been said about the recent implementation of changes to the Computer Misuse Act 1990, with many blogging on the changes. See here for example.

Much of the attention has surrounded the need to implement...

November 28, 2008

Recently, the European Commission announced that it would like to extend copyright protection for performers. Currently a performer’s copyright lasts for 50 years while an author’s or composer’s copyright lasts...

December 3, 2008

It has been reported that the well known US Online Payment Service, Checkfree, has been hacked and that at least two of their domain names had been taken over. Throughout the US, users were being given bogus security certificates...

December 6, 2008

It is interesting to hear Marks and Spencer is being sued by Interflora for using Interflora’s brand in their Google advertising.

I would hazard a guess that in many organisations the people at the top and the...