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

If you've been sleeping on the IP news from the past week, it's time to rise and shine! Here's the summary of what you missed.

Patents

Looks like it'll be a while before Bumpkin
gets up-to-date with the IP news...  © Madi Hapi

Annsley Merelle Ward informed readers of the latest commitment from the EPO to accelerate opposition proceedings when informed of both infringement actions and revocation proceedings pending before the Unified Patent Court (UPC) or a national court/authority of a member state.

Eleonora Rosati shared a reminder that IPKat readers can take advantage of a 10% discount (using IPKAT at checkout) on the registration fee to attend the Pharma and Biotech Patent Litigation Summit in January 2024.

Trade Marks

Alessandro Cerri reported on the disputed transfer of the EU trade mark for 'DIEGO MARADONA' to a company owned by his former lawyer, one year after the renowned football player passed away. Maradona's heirs successfully applied to have the transfer invalidated, as the documentation did not satisfy all the formalities.

Lewis Hamilton is one of the most successful Formula 1 drivers of all time, but as Marcel Pemsel discussed, the Board of Appeal of the EUIPO recently confirmed that he was not famous enough in the EU to enjoy the special protections afforded to famous people. His application to register ‘LEWIS HAMILTON’ was refused due to the conflicts with the well-known watch maker’s trade mark ‘Hamilton’.

Copyright and Data Protection

Kevin Bercimuelle-Chamot updated readers on the recent decision from the Cour de Cassation on the limitation period for copyright infringement actions in France. The creator of a sculpture entitled "La Fontaine aux chevaux" unsuccessfully sought an injunction after the Paris Court of Appeal recognised the infringing nature of an unauthorised reproduction, as the action was brought eight years after the expiration of the five-year limitation period.

Katfriends Aiswarya Deepa Padmakumar, Simon Parayemkuzhiyil Abraham, and Aashish Murali Krishnan attended the UK House of Lords Inquiry into Large Language Models (LLMs) and provided a summary of the evidence session before the Communications and Digital Committee. The points of discussion included the infringement of copyright by LLMs, as well as questions about whether the GDPR is up to the task of protecting personal data used by AI.