tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post7722187931511859793..comments2024-03-29T09:21:58.696+00:00Comments on The IPKat: Jurisdiction in online Community trade mark infringement cases: what's the story?Verónica RodrÃguez Arguijohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763207846940036921noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-39652703585832998322015-02-18T09:06:25.470+00:002015-02-18T09:06:25.470+00:00In my view, Coty is clearly limited to offline inf...In my view, Coty is clearly limited to offline infringement "in the event of a sale and delivery of a counterfeit product in one Member State, followed by a resale by the purchaser in another Member State" (cited from the headnote of Coty).<br /><br />Separating the concept of "the act of infringement" from the broader concept of "the harmful event" is sensible when national laws are concerned . Allowing both forums ( at the place where the event giving rise to the damage occurred and at the place of occurrence of damage) in Community trademark cases, allowing would entail legal uncertainty and forum shopping without there being any advantage.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-83551879068671644602015-02-18T08:34:41.778+00:002015-02-18T08:34:41.778+00:00There is another issue with on-line infringement t...There is another issue with on-line infringement that keeps buzzing in my head. Methods of processing data representing a physical entity are patentable. A computer programme product for programming a computer to execute the method may be protected with such patent as well. The results of such methods - the product - may not always be patentable. Because they are already known. Or because a signal, as a transitory medium, is not patentable in certain jurisdictions.<br /><br />The field of software has evolved and is continuously evolving: from local processing to cloud processing, from being provided on a floppy disk you buy in a store to being offered in a saas environment - software as a service - you pay for per processing step or per year. More and more companies offer a gateway for you to provide data, the companies handle the data on their servers and the results - the product - is sent to your local computer (tablet, smartphone) that only requires to display the results.<br /><br />With servers running the software being located in a far and distant country you never even considered filing for patent protection, how well is your invention protected in your home country or home region? If you only have a European patent, offering protection in the largest countries (DE, FR, GB, ES, IT, NL, TR, PL), how to address your invention being used on a server in Belize?<br /><br />Yes, one could say the offering on the European market of the processing in Belize would constitute infringement. But does it? Is the method actually being offered on the European market? Or in Belize? In the end, the method is not executed in Europe. And the software is not available in Europe.<br /><br />Next, there is the question of enforcement. One cannot shut down the server in Belize. I have no knowledge at all of the IP enforcement in Belize, but I'd say that is not relevant: there is no patent in Belize that is being infringed. Would the courts in Europe order blocking of the IP address of the server running the software? We have seen this before, but it appeared not to be very effective.<br /><br />Any thoughts?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com