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A regular column devoted to IP curiosities and controversies, named in honour of John of Utynam

How might your work change in the next 10 years? Or 20 years? With daily deadlines and clamorous clients, most IP practitioners probably don’t have the luxury to predict the future. But maybe that’s exactly what you should be doing

In Royal Chain Inc. v Mansur Gavriel LLC, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) evaluated whether a likelihood of confusion existed between marks sharing a common surname for complementary fashion products.

The Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademarks (SOIT) has rejected a national combined trade mark application Slims EA, filed for registration for products in class 34 "unprocessed, semi-processed or processed tobacco; tobacco products; cigarettes; cigars and cigarillos; cigarette filters/cigarettes; articles for smokers; matches/lighters and ashtrays for smokers that are not made of precious metals" due to the conflict with the previous national combined trademark Eve, registered for products in class 34 "tobacco, raw or manufactured including cigars, cigarettes, cigarillos, tobacco for roll your own cigarettes, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, snuff tobacco; tobacco substitutes (not for medical purposes); smokers' articles, including cigarette paper and tubes, cigarette filters, tobacco tins, cigarette cases and ashtrays not made of precious metals, their alloys or plated with such; pipes, pocket apparatus for rolling cigarettes, lighters; matches".

Luxury shoe brand Louboutin is fighting rival Yves Saint Laurent over the rights to its famous red soles in both the US and Europe. In New York, a judge last month denied Louboutin's motion for a preliminary injunction barring YSL from marketing shoes with red soles, citing trade mark infringement. Judge Victor Marrero said granting a designer exclusive use of a colour would result in a "broad spectrum of absurdities" and "fashion wars".

Biotech company Myriad, which owns US patents covering the isolation and detection of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, won a second victory at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last month. In the long-running dispute, parties including the Association for Molecular Pathology said Myriad's claims covered material ineligible for patent protection. But in August, the Federal Circuit once again reversed the district court's finding that Myriad's composition claims to isolated DNA molecules cover patent-ineligible products of nature. The court also overturned the ruling that Myriad's method claim for screening potential cancer therapeutics via changes in the cell growth rates of transformed cells is a patent-ineligible scientific principle. But it affirmed the district court's decision that Myriad's method claims for "comparing" or "analysing" DNA sequences are "abstract, mental steps" that cannot be patented. The Federal Circuit first ruled on the case in July last year and an appeal to the Supreme Court was subsequently filed. The case was returned to the Federal Circuit following the Supreme Court's decision in Mayo v Prometheus in March this year. The plaintiffs have said they are not satisfied with the decision and could appeal to the High Court a second time. Chinese patents to be expedited. China’s new priority examination system for patents went live on August 1. Applicants can now request speedier examination for inventions in fields including green technologies, new-generation information technology and high-end manufacturing. Patents filed in China before other countries or deemed in the national interest can also be fast-tracked. Applicants must file electronically and submit an application for prioritised patent examination endorsed by a provincial SIPO branch.

Chien’s work on patent trolls has led the debate in the US and been behind many of the recent proposals for reform

We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP

We provide a rundown of Managing IP’s news and analysis from the week, and review what’s been happening elsewhere in IP

David Parrish expects AI to be among the major talking points for a newly formed committee aimed at protecting the interests of London-based IP practitioners, firms, and their clients