The intellectual property in the space race, Apollo moon landings and Artemis missions

With the Artemis space missions planned to take the human race back to the Moon and on to Mars, it is a perfect opportunity to look at the intellectual property that NASA has developed. This technology has been used not only for the Moon missions, but also here on planet Earth, with many of the …

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The Intellectual Property in Podcast Production

Podcasts have grown into one of the most popular forms of content sharing.  They can be informative and personal at the same time, exploring current issues, reviewing material and sharing amazing stories. They draw on original content and sometimes it is just about your favourite celebrity talking to people.  Often it is just a couple …

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Nike and the metaverse – a new territory for registering trade marks

Nike have registered trade marks for the famous swoosh and brand name for various products in virtual and augmented reality. We have heard of the first cease and desist letter being sent as Hermes seeks to enforce its intellectual property rights over the Metabirkin bag. This begs the question - is virtual and augmented reality …

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Plant based food Trade Marks: disputes waiting to happen?

Veganuary is back and the plant based food market is set to boom in the UK according to numerous sources. There are more ads highlighting the benefits of eating plants and with documentaries like Game Changers and Seaspiracy becoming incredibly popular, there have never been more reasons to go vegan. Many consumers are switching to …

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The 2022 Intellectual Property Almanac

2021 saw some interesting intellectual property related issues hit the headlines. There was the “Free Cuthbert” movement when everyone got excited about the intellectual property in chocolate caterpillar cakes, parliamentary hearings on music streaming, a consultation on trade mark exhaustion, and even time for Monopoly to get into trouble with its trade mark. With it …

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Swatch clocks a victory over Apple in TM row over “one more thing”

Swatch have successfully overturned a trade mark decision which had prevented its registration of the trade marks “one more thing” and “swatch one more thing”.  Apple had opposed the registration of the marks on the basis that the phase was well known to have been used by Steve Jobs during product launches, most notably when …

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Banksy artwork on Reading Prison: Could copyright save it from demolition?

The Banksy artwork depicting a prison break (reported here) on the side of Reading Prison has generated much interest including calls from the creative and dramatic industries to turn the prison into a space for the arts.  Kate Winslet joined the campaign against the Ministry of Justice’s intentions to tear down the building, joining Kenneth Branagh …

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Books Notes: In Black and White – A Young Barrister’s Story of Race and Class in a Broken Legal System

3 Sentence Summary Alexandra Wilson sets out her very real experience of being a pupil Barrister, the professional challenges and the skills that made her have the success she has. She poignantly highlights throughout the book the various discrimination issues facing the Bar and the Criminal Justice System whilst shattering the stereotype that Barristers are …

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Burger King marketing campaign for FIFA 21 exposure raises questions of image rights

Burger King has a brilliant marketing campaign which puts its logo on the shirt worn by football stars such as Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar, Mohamed Salah and Kylian Mbappé. You may think that these players all play for different teams, but when Burger King became the front-of-shirt sponsor for League Two side Stevenage in 2018 it …

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How your food can be protected by Intellectual Property

Fit Kitchen has been successful in protecting its brand against Scratch Meals over the use of the wording "Fit Kitchen" on meals that were being provided to supermarkets. It was held that there was sufficient goodwill in the Fit Kitchen brand in order to establish the goodwill, misrepresentation, and damage necessary for there to be …

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