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...