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Intellectual Property

Messi Wins: EU Court Rules No Potential Conflict Between “MESSI” and “MASSI” Trademarks

In a decision issued yesterday morning, the General Court of the CJEU (EGC) approved the registration of a logo consisting of a shield motif with the letter "M" blazoned across the front, sitting on top of the letters "M-E-S-S-I".The application for the logo was filed by one Lionel Andrés Messi in August 2011. Messi's trademark was shortly thereafter opposed by Mr. Jaime Masferrer Coma, the previous owner of the trademark "MASSI" (the mark has since been assigned to the company J.M.-E.V. E HIJOS, S.R.L.). For six and a half years Mr. Messi had been engaged in a legal battle with…
Jonathan Tonna
27th April 2018
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Intellectual Property

Positive Update on EU Trademark and Industrial Design Rights Post-Brexit

As many are no doubt aware, an updated draft of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community was published last month.The 19 March draft highlights all the points of consensus between the EU and the UK – the continuation of EU-wide IP rights currently effective in Britain being among them. It is now virtually official that all EU trademarks and industrial designs registered before the end of the Brexit transition period will continue to be protected qua UK registrations.This is good news…
Jonathan Tonna
7th April 2018
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Intellectual Property

Positive Update on EU Trademark and Industrial Design Rights Post-Brexit

As many are no doubt aware, an updated draft of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community was published last month.The 19 March draft highlights all the points of consensus between the EU and the UK – the continuation of EU-wide IP rights currently effective in Britain being among them. It is now virtually official that all EU trademarks and industrial designs registered before the end of the Brexit transition period will continue to be protected qua UK registrations.This is good news…
Jonathan Tonna
7th April 2018
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Intellectual Property

Silence is Golden: Holding the Breach on Free Speech with Trade Secret Law on the Horizon

What disappears when you speak its name?A riddle as old as time itself. But, as anyone charged with the keeping of secrets knows; once silence is broken, a great many more things might go the same way.Among those things, there's your intellectual property.This may seem a little counterintuitive. Common sense dictates a good idea must be disclosed to the public one way or another if it is to evolve into a good venture.Indeed, it is generally the case that intellectual property must be declared or expressed publicly before it can even become vested with the law's protection.Reality, however, is rather…
Jonathan Tonna
28th March 2018
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Intellectual Property

Silence is Golden: Holding the Breach on Free Speech with Trade Secret Law on the Horizon

What disappears when you speak its name?A riddle as old as time itself. But, as anyone charged with the keeping of secrets knows; once silence is broken, a great many more things might go the same way.Among those things, there's your intellectual property.This may seem a little counterintuitive. Common sense dictates a good idea must be disclosed to the public one way or another if it is to evolve into a good venture.Indeed, it is generally the case that intellectual property must be declared or expressed publicly before it can even become vested with the law's protection.Reality, however, is rather…
Jonathan Tonna
28th March 2018
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Intellectual Property

What Can You Legally “Watch Free Online” and When?

Putlocker. BitTorrent. PirateBay. Napster. Mediafire.Ring any bells?We'll bet they do.Generally, most people have a pretty acute gut sense about when something is a little too good to be legal. It's just that, generally, most people ignore it – nip the burgeoning weed of guilt in the bud – and get on with their lives as though nothing is wrong.So, is your gut on to something?You may or may not be "most people", but you may yet be surprised to discover precisely what the law of copyright has to say about what you do online. For instance, you would probably think nothing of…
Jonathan Tonna
13th February 2018