Published The UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) welcomes the announcement that Feryal Clark MP has been appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, with responsibility for IP. The IPO’s CEO, Adam Williams, said: “I am delighted to welcome Feryal Clark as the new minister responsible for IP.     “The new government has a clear mission – economic growth. Innovation and creativity are crucial to achieving this goal, and intellectual property is a powerful enabler across many sectors of the UK econ ..read more

Published Louis Vuitton and Pharrell Williams may have misstepped – almost literally. The company and its men’s creative director are accused of infringing the registered US trademark POCKET SOCKS in connection with (you guessed it) socks with pockets. The allegations in the complaint filed June 20 by Pocket Socks, Inc. in the US District Court for the Southern District of California (case no. 24-cv-01076), accuse Louis Vuitton (both the French parent and its North American affiliate) and Williams of trademark and trade dress infringement under US federal law (the Lanham Act), as well as un ..read more

Published Fandom is a massive part of any globally-followed sports tournament, and this year’s Euros was no exception. As an expected 650,000 international football fans descended on Germany, there was an obvious rush to grab their respective nations’ kits and colors. However, amidst the excitement, an interesting and worrying story started circulating – football fans could face fines of up to €5000 if caught wearing counterfeit jerseys, alluding to German laws designed to fight the spread of counterfeit goods. This story gained significant credibility, considering reports that Nike lost ov ..read more

Published Every trademark attorney knows the Burger King v. Hoots case from 1968, in which the federal trademark registrant of BURGER KING – a Florida company – challenged the ‘good faith junior user’ which innocently adopted the same BURGER KING mark for identical services in Illinois, and obtained an Illinois State trademark registration, prior to the issuance of the Florida company’s federal registration. In that case, the Seventh Circuit upheld the District Court’s ruling that the Illinois restaurant could maintain its use but not expand, acknowledging that the plaintiff owned a federal ..read more

Published Olga Bischof joined PCB Byrne in 2023 as a consultant partner and brings with her a wealth of commercial litigation and arbitration expertise, having represented clients in disputes in all divisions of the High Court, the Court of Appeal, and pursuant to the rules of many arbitration institutions. This includes acting for Andrey Guriev in Alexander Gorbachev v. Andrei Grigoryevich Guriev: CL-2020-000358 which was identified earlier this year by The Lawyer as one of the top 20 cases of 2024.  Prior to joining PCB Byrne, Bischof was a Partner at Brown Rudnick, having ..read more

Published Our Editor-in-Chief, Faye Waterford, had the unique opportunity to attend Potter Clarkson’s residential IP Summer School, an exclusive event that took place on June 25-26 at the University of Nottingham. After a very warm welcome and humorous icebreaker conducted by the Potter Clarkson team – Edwina FitzHugh, Senior Attorney, Harrison Lee, Senior Attorney, Peter Mumford, Senior Attorney, Stephen Moor, Senior Attorney, Marianna Foerg, Associate, Kate Marrs, Associate – the day began by introducing the foundational elements of IP to the delegates, an esteemed selection of corporate ..read more

Published In a recent landmark decision, the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf gave the green light for Nike to feature stripes on some of its sports trousers. The trademark dispute between the two sportswear giants, Nike and Adidas, began in 2022, when Adidas – which is renowned for the rigorous defense of its three-striped trademark – lodged a complaint before the Düsseldorf Regional Court, leading to an initial ban on Nike’s use in Germany of the striped motif on five of its joggers’ designs. However, the decision was partially overturned on appeal, allowing Nike to offer on the market ..read more

Published Intellectual property in Russia marches on by fits and starts. The beginning of 2024 showed that the Russian Patent and Trademark Office (Rospatent) received a record number of trademark applications over two months – 19,500 – which is 1.5 times more than the same period in the previous year. However, there are trademarks whose owners do not conduct business in Russia and consequently fall within three months of non-use, which may lead to the loss of their valuable assets. To preserve their rights, trademark owners are advised to renew supplies of the trademarked goods, at least i ..read more

Published Buchalter is pleased to announce that Robert Becker has joined the firm as a Shareholder in its San Francisco office as a member of the Intellectual Property practice group. “We are thrilled to welcome Rob to Buchalter,” said Adam Bass, President and Chief Executive Officer. “His impressive expertise in intellectual property law further expands our distinguished Intellectual Property practice. Rob’s addition underscores our commitment to expanding our IP practice with top-tier talent.” Becker represents both emerging and established companies in complex patent, trademark, copyright ..read more

Published New York, New York—July 2, 2024—The International Trademark Association (INTA) respects the provincial government of Quebec and their representation of the will of their people to further protect the erosion of the French language through amendments to the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business under the Charter of the French Language, which were released on June 26, 2024.   However, the global trademark community remains concerned about many parts of the regulation. On behalf of its members around the world, INTA will remain highly engaged over the m ..read more