Never Too Late: If you missed the IPKat last week!

2021 was certainly a wild ride, but this ride isn’t over just yet. Meanwhile, check the latest news from the IPKat before opening the doors to 2022.

Copyright

This Kat is counting the minutes for 2022

The Rt Hon Sir Richard Arnold, Judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, reviewed the book ‘Exceptions in EU Copyright Law: In Search of a Balance Between Flexibility and Legal Certainty’ by Tito Rendas.

In light of WIPO’s recent announcement that Cambodia will be joining the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in March 2022, Katfriend Jørgen Blomqvist commented on the obsolescence of the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC). 

Designs

While expectations are building up regarding the new EU Design Directive, GuestKat Anastasiia Kyrylenko prepared a compilation of case law involving functional designs – one of the most discussed provisions of the current Directive. 

Patents

GuestKat Rose Hughes commented on (i) a recent decision from EPO’s Board of Appeal in which it failed to find any legal basis in the EPC for the requirement that the description must be brought in line with the claims; and (ii) a recent referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union from the Finnish Market Court, which is seeking clarification on the interpretation of Article 3(c) of the SPC Regulation with respect to combination products.

Katfriends Professor Kelvin FK Low (National University of Singapore), Professor Wai Yee Wan (City University of Hong Kong) and Associate Professor Ying-Chieh Wu (Seoul National University) examined the recent Australian and UK cases and analysed the arguments on both sides in an attempt to answer that question of how (or whether) AI-inventorship incentivises invention. 

Trade Marks

Katfriends Jakob Plesner Mathiasen and Hanne Kirk (Gorrissen Federspiel) commented on a recent ruling from the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court addressing the issue of a potential trade mark infringement based on two signs that were inspired by the same movie character. Their comment included a brief and interesting analysis of the protection of a character’s name by intellectual property. 

Our Katfriend Becky Knott reported on an interesting decision of the General Court that is notable for the degree to which the court analysed the properties of the relevant goods in determining trade mark non-use of a famous energy drink manufacturer. 

Also, Katfriend Jan Jacobi reported on a recent General Court decision on official symbols, in which it considered that symbols of particular public interest do not enjoy absolute protection. 

GuestKat Anastasiia Kyrylenko commented on a General Court decision involving a declaration of invalidity of a figurative mark of a popular candy in the Soviet Union. Her comment also addressed decisions of the EUIPO involving other marks from the Soviet Union. 

Miscellaneous

SpecialKat Chijioke Okorie brought us a series of highlights of intellectual property in Africa this year, divided into copyright, trade marks, and patents, policy, legislation and administration.