TRADEMARK WORLD

Trademark World

The IPKat's latest copy of Trademark World, the November 2006 issue, pictures a fight between two men on its cover. He suspects it's something to do with the cover story, by Bruce Marsh (Wilson Gunn), on why so little use is made of the provisions of the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 that bar registration of a sign that can't be used on account of a prior unregistered right. Is it a picture of the earlier unregistered rights user tackling the trade mark applicant, the trade mark applicant tackling the judge or the applicant's trade mark attorney fighting for his fees?

Other eventful features in this issue include the IPKat's long-standing friend Barbara Cookson (Filemot), depicted (left) asking if there's a need to rewrite the law on the registrability of functional shape marks, a deliciously cheeky piece by Reynolds Porter Chamberlain's Andrew Hobson on "The Sir Hugh Laddie Medal for Parallel Importers" (the Kat won't spoil this one for you by telling you what it's about) and a comparison by Jamie Rowlands (Wragge & Co) of so-called fair use defences to trade mark infringement in the US and Europe.

Full contents of this issue here