IP Snapshot – December 2016

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Bringing you regular news of key developments in intellectual property law.

PATENTS

Napp Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd v Dr Reddy's Laboratories (UK) Ltd and another [2016] EWCA Civ 1053

The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s construction of a claim relating to the numerical range specified for the composition of a transdermal patch used for pain relief. The appellant had argued that “around 10%” should be construed as meaning between 5-15% as the specification had provided figures in increments of 5%. However, following Smith & Nephew v Convatec Technologies, the Court found that Arnold J had correctly rejected the patentee's arguments that the skilled person would consider the scope of the term "about 10%" to be wider than being expressed to the nearest whole number.

For the full text of the decision, please click here.


TRADE MARKS

R v C and others [2016] EWCA Crim 1617

The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the regional Crown Court in concern by ruling that a criminal offence may indeed be committed under section 92 of the Trade Marks Act 1994 through the sale, distribution or possession with a view to sale, of goods where a sign was applied with, but then disposed of without, the trade mark owner’s consent – otherwise known as ‘grey goods’. This decision will give trade mark proprietors another tool with which to control their supply chain with respect to grey goods, offering enforcement agencies such as Trading Standards increased incentives to go after offending parties.

For the full text of the decision, please click here.

Simba
Toys GmbH & Co. KG v EUIPO, Case C-30/15 P

The European Court of Justice (CJEU) has overturned a decision of the General Court holding that an EU trade mark for the shape of a Rubik’s Cube is invalid on the basis that the shape is necessary to obtain a technical result. In doing so, the CJEU has clarified that, in determining the technical function, the essential characteristics of a shape must be assessed in light of the technical function of the actual goods concerned notwithstanding the fact that that may not be apparent from the graphical representation of the mark.

For the full text of the decision, please click here.

Victoria Plum Ltd (t/a as "Victoria Plumb") v Victorian Plumbing Ltd and others [2016] EWHC 2911 (Ch)

The High Court has upheld a claim for trade mark infringement, and a counter-claim for passing off, between parties with highly similar trade marks in respect of each of their use of the other’s marks as internet advertising keywords. The main point of interest was the defendant’s failed attempt to rely on the defence of honest concurrent use.

For the full text of the decision, please click here.




COPYRIGHT

Vereniging Openbare Bibliotheken v Stichting Leenrecht, Case C-174/15

The European Court of Justice (CJEU) has held that public lending of digital copies of books is permitted under Directive 2006/115/EC on rental and lending right. In its judgment, the CJEU confirmed that the lending of electronic books may be treated in the same way as lending of traditional books, under certain circumstances. The CJEU considered that the “one copy, one user” model proposed in this case had essentially similar characteristics to the lending of traditional books, and therefore came within the concept of “lending” under the Directive.

For the full text of the decision, please click here.

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