On 26 April, the UK ratified the EU’s Unified Patent Court (UPC) agreement. Although much of intellectual property law and practice is already harmonised amongst EU member states, a UPC would set up a common patent court for the hearing of intellectual property cases, and the direct applicability of its rulings, across all EU member states – something which is currently not the case, as patent cases (even for European Patent Office granted patents) are presently litigated on a country by country basis. The UPC would have the competence to hear cases regarding European patents with unitary effect, but also other European patents registered within states which have ratified the UPC agreement.
The UK is now the 16th European state to ratify the UPC agreement and, with France having ratified in 2014, only Germany’s ratification (alongside the UK and France, as one of the three countries with the most European patents in effect) is necessary for the agreement to come into force and for the UPC to come into operation. Presently, Germany’s constitutional court, the Bundesverfassungsgericht, has requested the German Federal President hold off on ratification until a domestic constitutional challenge to the agreement has been dealt with. The case is listed to be heard later this year. Continue Reading
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana sided with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and awarded a permanent injunction against game developer Kizzang Inc. (Kizzang) over a mobile and online game that infringed the NCAA’s trademarks “March Madness” and “Final Four.”
INTRODUCTION
Recently Rospatent officially launched a service for 
Suppose that you want to obtain a patent for an invention related to your cannabis business. What if the invention is a device for extracting oils, an ornamental design for a new vaporizer, or a new breed of cannabis plant? Should you attempt to patent your invention with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office? Can you obtain a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office? The answer is YES! if the invention meets certain conditions for patentability.
First Witch: When shall we three meet again/In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Nowadays, intellectual property rights constitute very important assets of the companies. Therefore, in order to avoid conflicts and uncertainty, Greek legislation offers specific provisions concerning the ownership of inventions, designs and the copyright on a work created in the course of an employment relationship. These provisions could be of interest of any company operating in Greece and governed by Greek Law.
Trade secrets, together with patents, trademarks, and copyrights, are one of the four main types of intellectual property. Unlike the three other types of IP, trade secrets are never made public. Trademarks and service marks are obtainable only through public use that creates an association between the mark and the origin of specific goods or services in the minds of the consumer. Copyrights are generally agnostic to publicity, but most copyrighted material is shown publicly in some form. While public disclosure before filing a patent application can destroy your patent rights, if your patent application is allowed it will always be made public. Public disclosure of your trade secret will destroy it – they’re like vampires, they live in the shadows and any exposure to light will kill them.
Representing our client Inditex S.A. (“Inditex”), owner of the famous fashion brand “ZARA,” Lee International obtained a favorable decision in its invalidation action against the registered mark “THEZARA” for motel and hotel services.
bkp partners Martin Reinisch and Georg Fellner have obtained a favorable judgment by an Austrian Appellate Court for bkp client Spirits International (SPI Group) confirming the latter’s rights in the iconic Stolichnaya and Moskovskaya trademarks in Austria.