This week on MIP: UPC CMS pledge | L'Oréal TM row

Kirkland hires former US prosecutor to boost litigation team

A former US prosecutor plans to leverage her government expertise to advise companies on trade secret disputes at her new firm.

Kirkland & Ellis announced on Monday, August 5, that Laura Vartain Horn had joined the firm as a partner.

To read the full article, click here.

Other articles published on Managing IP this week include:

Users welcome UPC and EPO CMS deal

Five minutes with…Ashton Chantrielle, 8 New Square

How IP firms manage debt collection from clients

'Totally unacceptable': law firms slam USPTO bugs

Going it alone: the case for patent attorney specialisation

Weekly take: Khaleesi row shows need for government IP training

Why US AI bill could boost firms’ litigation practices

Elsewhere in IP

Injunction denial

The Unified Patent Court denied Motorola Mobility’s injunction request against Ericsson on Tuesday, August 6. The Munich local division denied the two parallel motions as untimely. Motorola Mobility was represented by Hoyng Rokh Monegier and Ericsson by Kather Augenstein.

Patent refresh

A former US politician and secretary for commerce has argued in an opinion published in the Financial Times newspaper that US patent law needs updating. In the article, published on Monday, August 5, Gary Locke said IP protections must match the pace of technological progress.

AI threat

Sticking with the US, the US Copyright Office said that deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence (AI) pose a serious threat to Americans and called on Congress to urgently formulate a new law. The office was asked by Congress to collect public views on the best way to oversee the AI sector and has now published the first in a series of reports.

Is TM fight worth it?

A salon owner’s UK trademark dispute against L'Oréal has caught the attention of the media. Rebecca Dowdeswell, says she has been left exhausted by a long-running legal battle.

The French brand, which owns trademarks related to its series of beauty products called Naked, is opposing Dowdeswell’s attempt to renew the trademark on the name of her business - nkd.

Top innovators

São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, and Rio Grande do Sul are Brazil's most innovative economies, according to the first edition of the Brazil Innovation and Development Index (IBID), published on Monday, August 5 by the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office.

The IBID, in its inaugural year, considers different aspects of identifying national and regional leaders in innovation including infrastructure, the economy, knowledge and technology, and creative economy.

Litigation hire

Blank Rome announced on Tuesday, August 6 that it had hired intellectual property litigation lawyer Sean Damon to its Washington DC office. Damon joins from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.

That's it for today, see you again next week.