General IP News

Asking what copyright protects is a great question!  Thanks, Eddie, for asking me yesterday in a blog comment. You have inspired this post. Copyright is a form of intellectual property law that protects “original works of authorship” including literary, musical, artistic and dramatic works, such as photographs, articles, novels, sound ... Read More

A new book is hitting the shelves. Prof Kenneth C. Shadlen, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK writes to inform us of his new book Coalitions and Compliance: The Political Economy of Pharmaceutical Patents in Latin America. Prof Kenneth teaches Development Studies in the Department of International ... Read More

Many brands don't only compete in a domestic market these days, but a larger global market where individual countries can be incredibly valuable in addition to the country of origin. In these instances parallel importation can be a thorny subject, particularly when the rights to particular goods (or the IP ... Read More

IP Finance friend OxFirst Ltd is putting on another of its excellent webinar programs, this time on the topic--"Embracing the IP Valuation Universe”. CDP- Accredited, the Webinar will take place on October 4, 2017 - 15.00 BST = 16.00 CET - 09:00 CDT. The speaker will be Dominika Boehm, ... Read More

The TV format at the centre of the case decided by the Supreme CourtTV formats may be incredibly valuable, and be sold in franchise in several countries. As a result, also disputes relating to TV formats may be complex, lengthy and with uncertain outcomes, as the current litigation relating to The ... Read More

Let's fix copyright.Artwork by Prime Altemus Have you ever wondered 'what if we could rewrite copyright' but did not let your imagination run wild, thinking that copyright law was a lost cause anyway? If so, Giblin and Weatherall's latest book‘What if we could reimagine copyright?’ should be next on your reading list ... Read More

The US Department of Commerce has an opening for the IP Attaché in Guangzhou. Application for the position closes September 29, 2017.   Requirements include knowledge of intellectual property, a law degree, US bar admission and US citizenship.  The announcement does not indicate that knowledge of Mandarin or Cantonese languages is ... Read More

MARQUES CLASS 46 (Trade Marks)Jeremy Phillips receives Goldring AwardEarlier this week IPKat founder and longtime contributor, as well as Class 46 founder and MARQUES Social Media Coordinator, Jeremy Phillips (right) 😍😍😍, was presented with the second annual David Goldring Volunteer Award during the Annual Conference in Prague. The Award was established ... Read More

Coty Inc. v. Excell Brands, LLC, No. 15-CV-7029, 2017 WL 4155402 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 18, 2017)Coty and a number of other producers and distributors of well-known fragrances sued Excell, which produced cheap “versions” of Coty’s fragrances, with similar names and “nearly identical packaging.” “Compounding matters, Excell prominently included on its packaging ... Read More

Not Dead Yet Manufacturing Inc. v. Pride Solutions, LLC, 2017 WL 4150720, No. 13 C 3418 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 19, 2017)Patent case with a side order of false advertising.  NDY owns patents concerning ‘quick connect and disconnect’ apparatuses for the assembly of devices known as ‘stalk stompers.‘ A stalk stomper ... Read More

ANALYSIS: The French Supreme Court has declared the trade mark Giant invalid, ending a four year trade mark and unfair competition dispute between two major players in the French food industry. ... Read More