You have heard of trade marks, patents and copyright all at one point or another in the news and it seems most of the time it comes from the tech giant Apple. Apple really seem to stretch the limitation of trade mark, patent and copyright law when it comes to their business plan. And with this most recent approval they are following that trend; trademarking the design and layout of Apples flagship stores. Trade marks are recognizable signs, designs or expressions which identify goods or services of a particular source from others. You can trademark, words, logos, sounds and 3D images… which extends to architectual designs… The description of Apples store trade mark seems so generic that it’s unbelievable they have managed to register it. “…a primarily glass storefront, rectangular recessed lighting traversing the length of the store’s ceiling, Cantilevered shelving and recessed display spaces along the front side walls, rectangular tables arranged in a line in...

  It is a common trend of large companies appearing to bully small business owners over the use of trade marks. Marvel and DC have recently been applying this to their joint registered trade mark ‘superhero’. DC and Marvel are the biggest brands in comic books and superhero franchises. Normally they are rivals but in this case they appear to be working together to attack any users of the term “superhero”. Even in culture references not specific to comic books. The author of  Business Zero To Superhero, a book about setting up a small firm, Graham Jules has been contested by Marvel over his attempted registry of the title for an online website. Jules like many small time business owners is faced with an opposition from a company with infinitely more resources than him. He does not believe they have a claim to the word, saying “As far as I can see, the word superhero was first used in about 1917, before Marvel or DC even existed.’ And Jules is not the only one who has come under...

  Whether you prefer single malt, grain or blended, Scotch whisky (or “Scotch”) is a drink enjoyed and cherished by many, from kings, to authors, to movie stars. It is a drink that you want to be the authentic experience. Which is why the registering of the trade mark in Australia is a great thing! Scotch has a deeply embedded history and its very making is specified by law. To be labeled Scotch, a whisky must be distilled and initially matured in Scotland in oak barrels for at least 3 years. Australia has the reputation of being one of the worst markets for fake ‘Scotch’. Over 40 brands of fake varieties have been found and removed by the Scotch Whisky Association since 2005. The Scotch Whisky Association has been appealing to the UK Government and the European Commission ever since Scotch whisky was removed from Australia’s Food Standards Code in 2000. Since then fakes have run rampant due to lack of enforcement by authorities. Th...

  On 29th April 2014 at 5pm, the Dot London registry  opened for applications, enabling businesses to tie their brand to the capital with a .London domain name and registered Trademark owners take priority! Is this an opportunity to consider? London is one of the most famous and influential cities in the world, an economic hub, ranking second in last year’s Global Cities Index. Anyone interested in affiliating themselves with London or who has an interest in London can now do so through the Dot London scheme. This 1st phase which will last until  31 July 2014     is known as  London Priority Phase  and gives registered Trademark owners and London based businesses priority over others to changing their domain name to  .London. London Top Level Domain (shortened to TLD) is the brainchild of London & Partners (previously VisitLondon), a non-profit public private partnership funded by the Mayor’s Office. The idea and applicatio...

  By now you have most likely heard of Google's move into wearable technology in the form of head-mounted computer system Google Glass. More and more technology from Sci-fi films is becoming reality, but what does it mean for trademarks?  There are constant cases of large corporations attempting to trademark descriptive names. Google have made another case whilst trying to trademark "glass" in their marketing campaign for their product Google Glass. The application was rejected by an examiner on the grounds the trademark would likely cause confusion and that the word 'Glass' is "merely descriptive". There are several companies that have similarities such as Write on Glass, Glass3D and Teleglass. 'Write on Glass' has opposed the mark – and I wouldn't be surprised if several more companies rise to prevent the monopoly of "Glass". Border Stylo’s claims his rights are being infringed. Google responded by challenging Border Stylo’s alleg...

  What happens once I have my trademark? Trade mark registrations can technically be made to last forever, so long as you keep up to date with it. Just registering leaves you at risk of losing it in two ways: Revoked! This happens when you leave your trade mark unused, so with no evidence of trade being undertaken with that trade mark. If someone else wants to use it, they can revoke it. This means they file with the registry for revocation, which is the removal of that mark from the register. If you want to use a mark, it's strongly advisable to file the new application before beginning the revocation; otherwise someone else can jump in and register it from your fingertips. Invalidation This process involves proving a trade mark should not have been accepted on to the register in the first place. This can either be on what's known as absolute grounds, such as if it is too descriptive. Or if it’s too similar to a pre-existing registered mark or on a trade mark where the owners ...

  The power of negative internet publicity is evident as it seems that the peaceful protests of game developers, in a campaign known as  Candy Jam  has stunted Kings resolve in the trademarking of 'Candy' in the US. The mark had only been approved on January 5th of this year but the spark of controversy it created has been wide. This was done in the form of creating a slew of games with the word 'Candy' in them and themed with 'Candy'. This was an ingenious strategy since the value of King's trademark was flattened by the upsurge in these games. The idea of a trademark is to protect the uniqueness of your brand. By creating all of these games, the protesters effectively decreased the value of the mark, making it void. The decision to abandon the mark which came on February 24, 2014, was a welcome one.  Trademarking of generic words is unfair, especially when accompanied with an agressive stance. However, Kings trademark in the EU is still going strong,...

  It seems everyone is playing Candy Crush these days, you're hard pressed to find someone who hasn't heard of the addictive franchise. But this is unsurprising since Candy Crush has amassed half a billion downloads on Facebook and mobile devices alone and was the most downloaded app of 2013. Candy Crush amounts to around around 78% of Kings total gross bookings which may explain why they are so adamant to protect their business by registering the trademark "Candy" across multiple classes including software and entertainment to clothing and accessories. Perhaps also in an attempt to utilize the franchises fame for clothing and accessories lines much like Rovio, creators of Angry Birds have done. The registration succeeded despite its 'genericness' and Apple have been enthusiastic in their support for removing any games that might infringe the mark. Benny Hsu, the creator of an iOS game named  All Candy Casino Slots – Jewel Craze Connect: Big Blast Mani...

  Sega, one of the worlds most famous arcade game producers have lost their rights to ' Shenmue ' after a extended period of inactivity. Trade mark registrations can technically be made to last forever, so long as you keep up to date with it. Sega have recently shown what happens when you leave a trademark inactive. Under section 8 of the Trademark Act a company must show “continued use” or “excusable nonuse” of registered marks, if they do not want to lose their rights. This must be done in the fifth and sixth years of the trademark’s life, and again during the ninth and tenth. Sega appears to have failed to do this the second time round. It could also mean that Sega didn't give enough evidence they are still using the ' Shenmue ' trademark to warrant ownership, but it could also mean they have no intention of returning to the series. This is one of the ways in which you can lose your trademark rights, to learn the other take a look at our blog post 

  There have been several cases over the past few months of companies making cases for trademark infringement based on the bidding of keyword searches on Google Adwords and other search engines. (Google Adwords removed their policy of excluding trademarked keywords in their bidding in 2008.)   For example you may have heard of the cases of Lush vs Amazon, or Interflora vs  Marks and Spencer. In both cases the case made was that the companies (Amazon and M&S) bid on keywords containing their trade mark within Google’s AdWords service in order to trigger results on their site.  Google Adwords allows you to purchase keywords used in their search engine so that a sponsored link appears whenever internet users search for that term.   The confusion lies that if I were to search Interflora and Marks and Spencer came up, I may falsely believe that they are a part of the same chain. And that is exactly what trademarks are for: protecting consumers from...