Around the IP Blogs

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Copyright

Can typeface design be protected by copyright in the US, and are advances in technology changing that position? The Fashion Law considered these questions.

Anyone unwilling to cede seasonal ground to Christmas might wish to cling to Halloween, with the Copyright Alliance compiling lists of Halloween copyright stories as well as horror movie copyright cases.

The JIPLP Blog offers a short Author’s Take explaining some of the background to a journal article which argues that copyright law represents only a limited toolkit for the regulation of rights in AI-generated works. 

Readers seeking to keep up to date with German patent reform may be interested in a trifecta of posts from FOSS Patents, reporting on the adoption of a new reform proposal and covering the success or otherwise of lobbying efforts (here and here).

We might surely add ‘connected cars disputes’ to the list of life’s guarantees: the imposition of the fourth patent injunction against Daimler in eleven weeks (the latest instalment of its 3G SEP dispute with Nokia) drew the attention of FOSS Patents and JUVE, as did Daimler’s loss to Conversant over a former Nokia patent (JUVE). FOSS Patents also considered the downstream implications of the latter judgment.

Hopping across the pond reveals the ripples of the US Presidential election on the patent system, with PatentlyO publishing a joint letter to Congress from patent-holders supporting the approach and leadership of Trump-appointed USPTO Director Iancu. 

Whether or not recent attempts to introduce special rules to the TRIPS Agreement to facilitate access to COVID-19 vaccines were really worthwhile was answered in the negative over on the Kluwer Patent Blog, instead favouring e.g. lower-profile adjustments at the national level. 

Contrary to the image of peaceful valleys which the words ‘Mountain Dew’ alone might evoke, PepsiCo has been engaged in a 16-year long trade mark battle in India over whether Hyderabad-based Magfast Beverages enjoys prior user rights over its bottled water brand’s identical trade mark. SpicyIP has the latest analysis in relation to PepsiCo’s most recent setback.

IP Tango reports on the grant of a geographical indication by Brazil’s INPI in the form of the name of an Indigenous land, differing from previous examples which had referred instead to the name of Indigenous groups themselves.