Very interesting decision in copyright dispute. The owners of Barbie (Mattel) had sued the creator of Bratz for copyright infringement based on the fact that he had created the range of toys whilst under contract to them. A court in California has just awarded Mattel around $40 million which is nothing compared to the estimated [...]

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On the Dragons’ den last night there was a great moment when one of the hopefuls was pitching for his venture ifoods.tv (or was it ifood.tv!). It turned out that despite the money they had invested in the business as well as the obvious time and effort, the pair knew of a rival business which [...]

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The UKIPO has signalled that the penalties for online copyright infringement should mirror those in the offline world. This could mean fines of up to £50,000 being imposed for online copyright infringement if the recommendations are made law. The report states “Copyright infringement is a serious economic crime. It is important that the penalties available [...]

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Whilst trade marks are the main focus for most brand owners, inevitably all owners of IP rights will own some items of copyright. This can range from imagery, music, ad copy to more obscure elements such as typefaces or source code. It is important for brand owners to recognise the importance of copyright especially when [...]

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Background In October 2007, the UK trade mark registry (UKIPO) changed the way in which they dealt with the citation of exact or similar marks, in relation to new applications. Before this date, if a new trade mark was applied for which was the same or similar to an existing mark and applied for in [...]

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