Sunday sundae

Forthcoming events  As usual, do not forget to check the list of forthcoming IP events, regularly updated by the Kat team.

How should three dimensional shapes be protected under intellectual property law?  This is the question posed by the Competition Law Association to any student, trainee solicitor, pupil barrister, devil barrister (from Scotland) or trainee patent and trade mark attorney who is keen to embrace the challenge and enter the 2016 Golding Essay Prize competition, hoping to win £1,000 in exchange for a 5,000-word essay addressing the following:

"There are a number of overlapping intellectual property rights that can be relied upon to protect three dimensional shapes. These include artistic copyright, trade mark law, and registered and unregistered designs. There are various checks and balances included in some of these rights such as those in the trade marks directive which were recently interpreted by the CJEU in the Cadbury v Nestle and Hauck cases. Copyright may also apply to design drawings following the CJEU decision in Flos. How should these various rights be rationalised and what limits are appropriate when protecting three dimensional shapes? Are there, for example, fundamental distinctions to be drawn between monopoly and other rights or should it make a difference if the owner of the right has already produced articles to that design for a number of years?"

The deadline for submissions is 28 February, so hurry up!

Croatian bakers threatened with copyright infringement lawsuits  TorrentFreak reports that a number of pastry shops in Croatia have been receiving legal threats over their use of Diseny cartoon and film characters. The reason? There is already a pastry chain, Fun Cake Factory, that has secured an exclusive licence from Disney.

Speaking of cakes   Wikipedia, which turned 15 this week, has now updated its Trade Mark Policy, and - as tweeted by Wikimedia's Legal Director, included a specific provision regarding the use of Wikipedia's logos. You are now expressly allowed to "create things with the marks for your own use. These can be t-shirts, caps, desktop wallpapers, lanyards and even cakes! But please do not sell them, and make sure that your design follows the Visual Identity Guidelines."