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Intellectual Property

Unlock Funding Opportunities for Your SME: EU Renews IP Grant
Intellectual PropertyNews

Unlock Funding Opportunities for Your SME: EU Renews IP Grant

Following the successful uptake of a similar initiative in 2022, the European Commission has re-launched its fund to support small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”) in safeguarding their intellectual property assets. The scheme, which will run from 23 January 2023 until 8 December 2023, will enable SMEs established in the European Union to recover up to 75% of eligible fees incurred in connection with trademark and design applications, at both EU and national level, up to a maximum of €1,000. This is welcome news, since it is estimated that over 99% of all businesses in the EU are SMEs and is…
Mamo TCV Advocates
31st January 2023
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Intellectual Property

The Rise (and Fall) of NFTs from an IP Perspective

While their advent was initially hailed as a revolution for the creative industries, non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) appear to have lost significant steam over the past months with the Wall Street Journal reporting that NFT sales have dropped by 92% over September 2021 figures. But, what, exactly are NFTs? Are they eligible for protection under intellectual property laws? Or are they merely the foremost Veblen good of the crypto era? NFT is an acronym for “non-fungible token” and within the realm of blockchain technology it refers to a unique digital identifier composed of a string of characters (“hash”) which is created…
Timothy Spiteri
15th September 2022
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COVID19 MeasuresIntellectual Property

IP Hurdles in the Race for a Covid-19 Vaccine? (Part II)

On June 12 of last year, a few short months into a pandemic which, by then, had already reached all corners of the globe, the present author made a prediction concerning the IP barriers to distribution of the various Covid vaccines that were, at the time, in the very early stages of their development "Hurdles in the Race for a Covid-19 Vaccine?". The general thesis put forward in that article was that governments across the world would sooner guillotine their IP consultants in a public square than take their opinions seriously on the subject of vaccine rollouts. After all; two…
Jonathan Tonna
16th April 2021
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Intellectual Property

Iconic Ferrari 250 GTO Trademark (Partially) Cancelled

"Cancellation Division considers that genuine use of the contested EUTM has been sufficiently demonstrated for the relevant factors in relation to toy vehicles, scale-model vehicles, whereas no use of the mark or proper reasons for non-use have been demonstrated in relation to any of the other goods for which it is registered."Hardcore car enthusiasts (or just casual followers of the Top Gear series) know that the Ferrari 250 GTO is the holy grail of the automotive world – a car so valuable and revered that Jeremy Clarkson himself was denied the privilege of driving it. It remains, as far as…
Jonathan Tonna
10th July 2020
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COVID19 MeasuresIntellectual Property

IP Hurdles in the Race for a Covid-19 Vaccine?

Perhaps the most common complaint about modern legal systems is that they stifle justice for want of simplicity. Lately, however, it seems that what most people had simply regarded as a disappointing (some might say necessary) feature of the law, has become a real and immediate danger. After all, every day wasted on regulatory bureaucracy in the pursuit of a globally available vaccine represents thousands more human lives lost to the disease. Now it is not merely justice that the legal system may stifle, but the availability of treatments for a deadly global pandemic.One of the first commitments the United…
Jonathan Tonna
12th June 2020
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Intellectual Property

Out with the Old and In with the New: Parliament Tables Bill for New Trademarks Act

The long-awaited overhaul of Maltese trademark legislation is imminent – the first repeal and replacement of a major IP statute since Malta's accession to the European Union in 2004. The principal object of the new law  is, of course, to transpose the provisions of Directive (EU) 2015/2436 of 16 December 2015 approximating the laws of EU Member States relating to trademarks.One of the major substantive changes is the redefinition of a trademark such that it is no longer required for a sign or indication to be capable of "graphical representation" in order to be accepted for registration by the IPRD.…
Jonathan Tonna
13th November 2018