Never Too Late: if you missed The IPKat last week

Don't worry if you missed out on any IPKat news last week - this Kat got you covered...

 

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PATENTS

 

One important consideration in any legal system is the competency of appeal departments to review findings of fact at first instance. The case law of the Boards of Appeal has historically permitted only limited reassessment of facts at the appeal stage. However, a recent EPO Board of Appeal decision has now taken a differing approach to preceding Boards of Appeal on this issue. The Board of Appeal found that Boards are broadly competent to reassess findings of fact by a first instance department. The decision thus has potentially important consequences for what aspects of an Examining or Opposition Division decision may be challenged by an appellant. Rose Hughes reported on the decision.

 

 

TRADE MARKS

 

How far does likelihood of confusion go, within the meaning of Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation 2017/1001 (the EU Trade Mark Regulation (EUTMR), when it comes to the comparison between two signs? In an interesting decision from last month, the General Court considered that - despite the generally high level of attention of the target public for the Class 5 goods – the figurative sign of Almea Ltd was confusingly similar to the German word mark ‘MEA’. Nedim Malovic reported on the case.

 

 

COPYRIGHT

 

The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) has handed down judgment in the retrial of a dispute concerning the authorship of the screenplay of the film Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. Katfriend Daniela Simone reported on this joint ownership case.

 

 

OTHER IP TOPICS: ROYALTY DISTRIBUTION, PODCASTS

 

Must collective management organisations distribute royalties only to members whose works were used? This is essentially the question that the Federal High Court of Nigeria was asked in the case of Green Light Music Publishing Limited and Others v Copyright Society of Nigeria Ltd/Gte decided late last year. Chijioke Okorie reported on the case.

 

Are podcasts to the rescue of print journalism under siege? One of the struggles of print journalism is how to attract paid subscribers. One of the most interesting recent attempts to do so has been to try and establish a notable presence in a different medium and then to leverage that position to facilitate increased paid subscriptions in the original print product. Neil Wilkof has been particularly struck by the efforts of print icons to gain a foothold in the podcast space for that purpose, and reported on these efforts.