The week in IP - Qualcomm buys HP patents, Candy trade mark leaves bad taste, Rockstar drops suit against Huawei

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Gardens, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

The week in IP - Qualcomm buys HP patents, Candy trade mark leaves bad taste, Rockstar drops suit against Huawei

A selection of intellectual property stories from around the world that grabbed headlines this week

kitkat.jpg Have a break ...

Fresh from fighting over the colour purple, chocolate makers Nestlé and Cadbury have been back in court arguing about the registration of a 3D trade mark for Kit Kat chocolate bars. Nestlé applied for protection in the UK; and Cadbury opposed the application.

Following a UK IPO ruling that the four-finger mark had acquired distinctiveness at least for some goods, the case came before Mr Justice Arnold in the High Court. In an opinion last week, he seemed minded to side with Cadbury but decided that the judges of the CJEU should be consulted on two unclear aspects of EU law on 3D marks. Anyone know what their snack of choice is?

Qualcomm stocks up on HP patents

Qualcomm this week acquired a portfolio from Hewlett-Packard of about 1,400 granted patents and pending patent applications from the US and about 1,000 from other countries. The patents cover technologies that include fundamental mobile operating system techniques.

The company makes a lot of money from licensing patents. Its licensing unit brought in $7.6 billion in revenue in 2013, or 30% its total sales. The firm said the acquisition of the HP portfolio would “enable the company to offer even more value to current and future licensees”.

In a fizz

veuvecliquotbrutcontadino.jpg

It appears that Veuve Clicquot, the world’s second-largest Champagne house, is not happy with an Italian winery called Ciro Picariello, which sells a wine called Brut Contadino. Veuve Clicquot is worried about confusion with its yellow-label Champagne, and claims to have trade marks for the yellow colour in the EU, US and Australia.

According to a report in The Drinks Business, the French company is trying to resolve the matter amicably and has not yet taken formal legal action. We look forward to seeing how the parties will celebrate if and when they seal the deal.

Rockstar drops suit against Huawei

A consortium made up of Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Ericsson and Sony this week dropped a patent infringement claim against Huawei. Rockstar Consortium in October had filed a number of lawsuits against Huawei, Google and other Android makers claiming they had infringed on patents the consortium bought from Nortel for $4.5 billion.

candy.jpg Candy trade mark leaves bad taste

The computer gaming community was not impressed this week when the USPTO accepted a trademark application from the makers of mobile game Candy Crush Saga for the word “candy”. The trade mark includes games and software, educational services and clothing.

King Limited, the markers of the game, has asked other developers to remove games with the word. It says it has a trade mark for “candy” in the EU as well.

Gaming developers believe it is unfair to approve a trade mark to a single word as common as candy. Other developers have 30 days to file an appeal with the USPTO to claim the trade mark will affect their business. A group of developers are making as many games as they can including “candy” to “fight trademark trolling by making games”.

 


 

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

Senior leaders at TE Connectivity and Clarivate explain how they see the future of innovation
A new action filed by Nokia against Asus and a landmark ruling on counterfeits by South Africa’s Supreme Court were also among the top talking points
Counsel explain how they’re navigating patent prosecution matters and highlight key takeaways from Federal Circuit cases
A partner who joined Fenwick alongside two others explains what drew her to the firm and her hopes for growth in Boston
The England and Wales High Court has granted Kirkland & Ellis client Samsung interim declaratory relief in its ongoing FRAND dispute with ZTE
A UDRP decision that found in favour of a small business in a domain name dispute could encourage more businesses to take a stand in ‘David v Goliath’ cases
In Iconix v Dream Pairs, the Supreme Court said the Court of Appeal was wrong to interfere with an earlier ruling, prompting questions about the appeal court’s remit
Chris Moore at HGF reflects on the ‘spirit of collegiality’ that led to an important ruling in G1/24, a case concerning how European patent claims should be interpreted
The court ruled against the owner of the ‘Umbro’ mark, despite noting that post-sale confusion can be a legitimate ground for infringement
Shem Otanga discusses the importance of curiosity and passion, and why he would have loved to have been a professional recording artist
Gift this article