Latest Managing Trade marks News

• Is ACTA falling apart in Europe?

  Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Latvia have all said they will not ratify the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement following protests

• This week’s IP quiz – February 6-10

  Test your knowledge of the week’s IP news with our quick, five-question quiz. Answers next week

• How the EU could make it easier to enforce IP rights

  The European Commission has outlined how it might reform its enforcement directive to make it easier for IP owners to take action against infringers

• Don’t use IP law as a hammer

  In-house trade mark counsel today discussed how visceral reactions to infringement or negative feedback on social media sites can backfire and quickly destroy brand loyalty

• Complainants prosper in .xxx RES cases

  Brand owners and individuals have succeeded in each of the 12 completed .xxx disputes under new arbitration, according to statistics obtained by Managing IP

• Icann may increase TM protection in gTLDs - Pritz

  Icann may have to implement more mechanisms to protect trade mark owners in the new gTLD space, vice president of stakeholder relations Kurt Pritz said yesterday

• Hong Kong tries to stay ahead of the infringers

  The Hong Kong agency in charge of combating IP crime is to launch a new Electronic Crime Investigation Centre which it says will close the technological gap between infringers and enforcement officers

• Red bags and chambers tea: a day in the life of a barristers’ clerk

  Sue Harding is the senior clerk at Hogarth Chambers, a set of barristers in London that specialises in IP and chancery work. She tells Emma Barraclough what it’s like to help a group of self-employed advocates manage their business

Interviews

• Trade mark examination with a view

  In the first article in a new series, Emma Barraclough finds out what a typical day for an OHIM examiner involves

• Interview: Eleanor Sharpston on the point of the advocate general

  In an exclusive interview with Emma Barraclough, Eleanor Sharpston explains the role of advocates general at the EU’s Court of Justice, the barriers to creating an IP tribunal and why she admires the ingenuity of parallel traders

• Interview: from the army to IPOS – Singapore’s new IP head

  Tan Yih San, who took over as chief executive of the IP Office of Singapore in June, tells Peter Ollier about his plans for the office and how his time in the army has helped him prepare

• Exclusive interview: António Campinos, OHIM president

  OHIM President António Campinos would like the Office to become “the true IP office for Europe” he told Managing IP

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Character merchandising

• Angry Birds tempt the Chinese with mooncakes

  As China’s year of the dragon approaches, Rovio, the Finnish company that created Angry Birds, will launch a new version of the game for its growing Chinese fanbase – part of a sophisticated licensing strategy in the country

• Hello Kitty and Disney reveal China licensing secrets

  Two of the most successful brand licensors in the world explained how they intend to grow their China businesses at a conference in Hong Kong this week

• Betty Boop infringement claims rejected

  A US appeals court has dealt a blow to character merchandising, in a copyright and trade mark dispute over the cartoon character Betty Boop

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Trade marks in India

• India considers IP office overhaul

  India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has launched a review of the organisational structure of the IP office that could split the patent and trade mark departments and make them autonomous agencies

• Concerns grow over Indian trade mark office problems

  Admissions that over 44,000 trade mark files have gone missing in India and that the trade mark database is full of errors are just the latest in a litany of administrative errors, incompetence and corruption at the country’s trade mark offices

• Lawyers welcome corruption arrest in India

  The arrest of a gold-loving deputy trade mark registrar in Chennai last week for corruption could reinvigorate the drive to clean up India’s trade mark system, said lawyers this week

• India’s top court deals blow to brand owners

  The Supreme Court in India has ruled that the trade mark Skincliniq is not confusingly similar to the Clinique skincare range in a set back for well-known marks in India

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