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In Europe and the US, numerous decisions regarding FRAND terms and the enforceability of standard essential patent (SEP) have been issued. In Japan, on February 28 2013, the Tokyo District Court made the first decision on whether the enforcement of SEP with the patentee's FRAND declaration would be limited.

Inter partes review (IPR) proceedings provide a faster and cheaper alternative to litigation on the issues of anticipation and obviousness. To increase speed and reduce cost, the IPR rules significantly limit one of the most time-consuming and costly aspects of litigation: fact discovery.

Global Awards 2014

The odds can be increased for defendants seeking to stay patent litigation in favour of patent office validity review. Jeffrey Totten and Eric Jeschke identify four ways to do this

Katrina Burchell, the former head of Unilever's trade mark team has joined UK firm Irwin Mitchell. Burchell began her career in trade marks at Allied Lyons before moving to ICI and Wildbore & Gibbons. She joined Unilever in 1997 where she became head of the global trade mark team. She notably oversaw the outsourcing of the administration of Unilever's 160,000 trade marks – the world's largest trade mark portfolio – to Baker & McKenzie in 2007. In 2012 Burchell joined French luxury goods company PPR as group IP director, splitting her time between Paris and London and managing a portfolio that includes Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent.

Following the USPTO’s announcement that it will review its post-Myriad examiner guidance, patent lawyers say that a court challenge is likely if the agency does not change the policy

You might recognise Apple’s sleek, minimalist stores, if only for the crowds of twenty-something hipsters tapping away at devices inside. But is its design capable of trade mark protection in Europe?

An unusual amount of US patent infringement lawsuits, Mars suing Hershey’s for trade mark infringement over its Malteser product, Foxconn selling communication technology patents to Google, and Quentin Tarantino’s copyright infringement lawsuit against Gawker Media being dismissed were among the stories hitting the headlines in the past week

Patent lawyers at a conference in New York yesterday were bluntly critical of top US judges, with one panellist saying a high school student could do better than the Supreme Court’s opinion in Myriad and another suggesting that the Supreme Court does not respect the Federal Circuit

The fashion world had been abuzz in 2012 and 2013 about footwear designer Christian Louboutin's claim of exclusivity to the use of the colour red on the sole of footwear. Battles over claims of rights in particular colours did not, however, end with the resolution of the Louboutin case and have extended beyond just the fashion industry. The issue of ownership of colour trade marks recently raised its head again in a precedential decision issued by the USPTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) addressing a petition for partial cancellation or restriction of registration filed by Covidien LP against a trade mark registration owned by Masimo Corporation.