European TECH Law

easyGroup, which owns the IP rights for companies such as easyJet and easyHotel, has been active, and largely successful, in bringing actions against other companies using the “easy” prefix. However, it suffered a reverse in a recent judgment against an online retailer, easylife (Easygroup Ltd v Easylife Ltd & Anor [2021] EWHC 2150 (Ch)). Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Briggs dismissed easyGroup’s infringement and passing off claims against easylife. An important

This Court of Appeal decision is a helpful reminder that a lack of evidence of actual confusion is not necessarily fatal to a finding of trade mark infringement. The two IP specialist judges and one of the few female judges in the Court of Appeal upheld a finding of likelihood of indirect confusion between EU and UK trade marks for EAGLE RARE (registered for, respectively "bourbon whiskey" and "whiskey" and other goods in class 33) and a bourbon whiskey sold under the name AM

After the many logistical issues posed by both Brexit and the pandemic and with sustainability at the forefront of everyone's mind, it is perhaps not surprising that there has been a 130% increase in businesses accepted to use the MADE IN BRITAIN mark on their goods. (Many more have applied but not met the relevant criteria.) What is the legal framework that underpins this brand name and what exactly does "Made In Britain" mean? Can anyone use MADE IN BRITAIN? Made in Great B

The EU General Court has upheld a Board of Appeal ruling in a dispute between Chanel and Huawei, finding that Huawei’s EUTM application for a figurative H/U shape was not similar to Chanel’s Double-C trade mark (Case T-44/20, 21 April 2021). Huawei applied to register the EUTM for goods in class 9 in 2017 (far left). Chanel opposed the Huawei application based on two French trade marks (middle and right): (1) a figurative mark for “Cameras, sunglasses, glasses; earphones and

The IP Enterprise Court (IPEC) has enabled smaller businesses to fight back against perceived intellectual property (IP) injustices. Its simplified procedure, capped approach to costs recovery and tight case management make it a much more effective means of dispute resolution for the majority of IP claims. A recent example of the IPEC in action looks at cryptocurrency. Wirex Ltd v Cryptocarbon Global Ltd & Ors concerns a UK trade mark registration for CRYPTOBACK. The trade ma

The most obvious and important trade marks to register are the name of your game/app together with any logo you have adopted. It is wise to get specialist advice both in terms of the marks you select and the precise goods and services you decide to protect. In addition to registering your core brand. As your business grows, or other symbols become more closely associated with your business, it is worth conducting a regular review to identify other possible trade marks to regi

An important feature of the trade mark system around the world is the six month priority period. This is incredibly helpful for all businesses whether big or small. The world of trade marks operates on a first to file system. This means that the first person to file a trade mark is the first owner of the mark. But sometimes you're not sure which trade mark you want to go for (or which will be granted) and you don't want to spend a lot of money filing a trade mark in lots of d