ITMA
way firms of trademark attorneys can operate. Te Alternative Business Structures (ABS), envisaged by the Legal Services Act 2007, have started to take shape. ITMA intends to ensure that firms operating primarily in the IP sector and who may wish to become an ABS, can be regulated by an IP specialist regulator. Tis is why ITMA and CIPA have jointly applied to become a licensing authority for ABS through their independent regulatory arm, the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg).
their rights. ITMA has been cooperating with the IPO and other organisations to collate evidence.
A Supreme Court decision in early 2013, involving Prudential and its tax advisers, underlined the importance of dealing with the right professionals. Te judgment confirmed that legal advice privilege applies only to lawyers— including, of course, trademark attorneys. Tis helpful clarification adds to the list of reasons why businesses should select professional advisers who are appropriately qualified and properly regulated.
LOCOG as heavy-handed, the organisers actually managed to protect the major sponsors’ investment in a measured and equitable way.
Te media’s heightened interest in trademarks during 2012 helped to raise understanding of the importance value of IP. High profile court cases involving well-known brands, such as Apple’s many disputes with Samsung and others, were widely reported. Te case that generated most headlines in the popular tabloid press was the one in which Apple claimed in a London court that the appearance of the Samsung Galaxy infringed its own registered design for the iPhone. Not so, found Judge Colin Birss. Samsung’s products, he said, ‘do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. Tey are not as cool’.
THE 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS WERE A TRIUMPH. TO THE SURPRISE OF MANY, THEY ALSO SERVED TO PUT IP, AND TRADEMARKS IN PARTICULAR, FIRMLY IN THE MEDIA SPOTLIGHT.
Senior trademark attorneys—including many of ITMA’s officers—found themselves being quoted almost every time a leading brand found itself in a dispute over a trademark or registered design.
Cadbury’s dispute with its Swiss rival Nestlé over the use of the colour purple as a wrapper for chocolate made many more marketing people aware that colours, shapes, smells and sounds can be registered to distinguish one brand from another. Following the court decision, ITMA vice-president Kate O’Rourke published ‘six steps to protecting a colour as a trademark’ in a leading UK marketing magazine.
ITMA continues to support moves to make IP feature more prominently in the education system, from early years through to university. Tose who go on to start their own businesses should as a result be more aware of IP basics. Greater appreciation of the benefits of IP protection and enforcement will help reduce the problems that can arise when IP is not at the forefront. To assist those who are planning to start new businesses, ITMA continues to run free advice clinics for start-ups. Trademark attorneys also contribute to IP master classes that the IPO runs for business advisers.
One area of business activity that has attracted more government attention in recent years is that of unsolicited IP-related correspondence. ITMA members report that they come across dozens of examples each week of clients receiving official- looking notifications. Tey are not from the IPO, World IP Organization or the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market, but imply that trademarks are due for renewal or need to be registered and that recipients should pay a (usually very high) fee to ensure they do not lose
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A higher media profile for IP and trademarks
Te 2012 London Olympics were a triumph of organisation, design flair and, above all, athletic achievement. To the surprise of many, they also served to put IP, and trademarks in particular, firmly in the media spotlight. Te special IP regime created by the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act in 2006 started to affect those who thought that a closer association with the Games would improve the desirability of
their products. Te media
were full of stories about bakers of Olympic iced buns, sellers of unofficial memorabilia, knitters of woolly dolls and even an ‘Olympic’ café owner who had all been cautioned by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) that could be breaking the law.
Te Budweiser brand was the centre of attention twice during 2012: once when the Court of Appeal in London ruled that Czech brewer Budvar and American brewer Anheuser-Busch could both continue to own registrations of the Budweiser brand name in the UK; and later, when the brewer Anheuser-Busch asked Paramount Pictures to remove references to its Budweiser beer from the Denzel Washington movie Flight. ITMA’s other vice president Chris McLeod found himself explaining the significance of both events to the media.
they
ITMA issued a press release offering general guidance on how to stay within the law. Although some sections of
the media tried to portray World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2013
Te author’s explanation of trademarks was quoted in a weekly listings magazine in relation to ‘Jaguar’, where a gallery/bar in Shoreditch, London, applied to register ‘Jaguar Shoes’ and was opposed by the car company.
Court system: affordable justice for all?
In October 2012, the Patents County Court (PCC) introduced a new small claims track. Tis
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