Readers with long memories may recall the litigation between the pharmaceutical companies Merck KGaA on one hand and Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) and its associated companies on the other, which occupied the English courts from 2015 to 2020. The dispute concerned issues including the use of "MERCK" as a trade mark and the interpretation of a Co-Existence agreement between the parties dating from 1970. The case concluded in July 2020 with an order by Sir Alistair Norris. You might have thought that was the end of the matter... However, last year the parties were back in court, af ..read more

The EU General Court has upheld a decision to reject an EU trade mark application for PABLO ESCOBAR on the ground that it was contrary to public policy and to accepted principles of morality (Case T-255/23). The application was filed by Escobar Inc in September 2021 for a wide range of goods and services in classes 3, 5, 9, 10, 12 to 16, 18, 20, 21, 24 to 26 and 28 to 45. It was rejected under Article 7(1)(f) of the EUTM Regulation. The Board of Appeal upheld that decision in February 2023. In its decision, the Board took account of how the sign would be perceived by the Spanish publi ..read more

In March 2024, Mr Justice Mellor ruled that Dr Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin. The ruling came following the closing arguments in Dr Wright’s litigation against the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) and other parties. The same judge has now granted a worldwide freezing order in the sum of £6 million against Dr Wright. COPA requested the order because it is planning to seek its costs in the litigation but discovered that, after the conclusion of the trial last month, Dr Wright transferred his shares in his company RCJBR Holding plc to a Singapore co ..read more

The Italian fashion company Diesel has won a case against Montex Holdings (Diesel Ireland) before the High Court of Ireland. This is the latest instalment in the long-running litigation between the parties. This dispute dates back to 1992 when Diesel Ireland applied to register DIESEL as a trade mark in Ireland. Then, in 1994, Diesel Italy applied to register the DIESEL word and device. It also opposed Diesel Ireland’s application. Diesel Ireland’s application was considered first and the Diesel Italy application was put on hold. In 1998, the opposition was upheld – a decisi ..read more

Disputes over confidential information often arise as a result of business sales and non-compete agreements. In a 23 February 2024 decision, the English Court of Appeal granted an interim injunction restraining use of confidential information, and thereby overturning a lower ruling. The dispute arose after Dr Zack Ally, an aesthetics practitioner, and his wife Dr Sanah Qasemzahi, sold their business Derma Med to Peal Athena Ltd in March 2022. The sale agreement provided that they would not compete with Derma Med for two years and would keep relevant information confidential ..read more

The English Court of Appeal has partially upheld an appeal in a trade mark dispute between two parties that both used the QUANTUM ADVISORY brand. The case was between Quantum Advisory Limited (Quad) and Quantum Actuarial LLP (LLP), both of which provide pension services. There was a long and complex relationship between the parties, which was formalised in a 2007 agreement. Both parties used the QUANTUM ADVISORY mark. However, they subsequently fell into dispute over various issues, including four UK trade marks that LLP had registered (including one word mark for QUANTUM ADVISOR ..read more

Click-wrap contracts are commonly used online and rarely thought about by anyone involved in teh contracting process. There is an assumption that by clicking on a box a consumer or user is bound by the terms but is this assumption correct? The English Court of Appeal has called for a review of the law on click-wrap procedures, in its ruling in a case concerning a National Lottery game. In her March 2024 judgment dismissing the game player’s appeal in Parker-Grennan v Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd, Lady Justice Andrews said: Interactive Win Game The case concerned Camelot’s terms and condition ..read more

The five-week trial concerning issues including the identity of the inventor of Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto has concluded with a surprise ruling by the judge, Mr Justice Mellor. The case is between Dr Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist, and the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) and other parties. According to news reports, following the closing arguments on 14 March 2024, Mellor J said "Dr Wright is not the person who adopted or operated under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto” and: "Dr Wright is not the person who created the Bitcoin system." He said that he was able to ..read more

The Court of Appeal has upheld Joanna Smith J’s first instance finding that Tesco’s Clubcard Prices campaign infringed Lidl’s registered trade mark for its logo inside a yellow circle within a blue square (pictured) and constituted passing off. The Court also agreed with Smith J's ruling that most of Lidl’s wordless trade marks were invalid for bad faith because they were not filed with a genuine intent to use and were a form of evergreening. However, it upheld Tesco’s appeal against a finding of copyright infringement. We discussed Joanna Smith J’s judgment here. The three appeal j ..read more

The High Court is set to hear a dispute over the ownership of copyright and performers' rights in recordings made by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (JHE), after a judge rejected an application for summary judgment or strike out. The case has been brought by the estates of David Noel Redding and John Graham Mitchell, the two other members of JHE alongside Jimi Hendrix himself. They died in 2003 and 2008 respectively. The claim is against Sony Music Entertainment, which has a licence to the rights from Experience Hendrix, which was assigned rights by Hendrix himself. The claimants a ..read more