Global

The wine and spirits sector has had a busy first half of 2019 in trademark terms. Florence Chapin picks some highlights from around the globe.

The Vita Group has recently been successful in its ongoing dispute over the registration of the descriptive term ‘Talalay’. Vanessa Harrow sets out the ruling and the steps businesses can take when faced with a similar issue.

The Chinese government is seeking to create a more favourable climate for investment and innovation by tightening its trademark legislation. 

Brand owners have long complained about the ease with which counterfeiters are able to sell fake goods in online sites such as Amazon. Now, the retailer has announced plans to introduce serial numbers and improve automatic detection to curb such sales.

Domain name management usually sits outside the IP department with marketing and/or IT teams. Those departments may have been schooled in the need to consult the IP team as part of the domain name registration strategy, but what about decisions as to ongoing maintenance, gaps in protection or decisions to lapse registered domains?

The number of countries and regions joining the international system for trademark registration on the basis of the Madrid Agreement and its Protocol, continues to grow. Malawi is the latest country to deposit an instrument of accession

The copying of fashion and clothing designs is so endemic it appears almost accepted. But, a designer’s creative output is their intellectual property and should be protected as such. We set out tools for protection.

A recent spat over a recipe image used on Instagram highlights the importance both of clearing images for use before posting, and of protecting your own images using copyright symbols and watermarks, as Claire Jones explains.

Fans of Federer at this year’s Wimbledon may be wondering why he’s no longer sporting the distinctive ‘RF’ logo on his tennis whites. That’s because the trademark is actually owned by his former sponsor Nike. 

England football player has applied to register four trademarks at the UKIPO, covering clothing, footwear and headgear.

Social media networks provide an opportunity to reach and interact with customers in new and, often, more effective ways. But these opportunities are not without risks.

The administrative procedure for obtaining a patent in Japan is similar to that of most other patent systems, and includes the examination of novelty, inventive step and industrial application of the invention.