Litigation

Computer programs appear on Article 52(2)(c) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), of 1973 as a subject matter excluded from the meaning of invention. However, in 2005, the European Patent Organization (EPO) had already granted over thirty thousand patents related to computer programs and, currently, computer-implemented inventions are the object of approximately 35% of European patent applications.

Past January 31st, a letter was sent to the European Union Commission President Jean Claude Juncker by big companies such as Apple, Adidas, Bayer, Channel, Hero, Lego, L’oréal, Moët Hennessy, Nike, Philips or Coca Cola, amongst others, with a call for action to modernize the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Directive (IPRED).

Before announcing the Apple Watch, Apple, inc. tried to register the trademark iWatch in several jurisdictions, with trademarks applications dated from 2013 and 2014. In some jurisdictions the application was successful and the trademark was registered and ready for use. In other cases, Apple wasn't so lucky. The most famous case is the trademark application of the iWatch filed at the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), numbered 00003047484, which was rejected after an opposition was filed in the name of Swatch.

Past August 30, 2016, a trademark opposition system has come into effect in Mexico. The amendment to the Mexican IP Law was published in the Official Gazette June 1, 2016 and a new opposition has come alive, where before there was none. While the opposition system is most certainly welcome, taking into account that it will make it easier – and cheaper – for opponents to oppose published trademarks that might be deemed too similar to their previous trademarks, the new opposition system has some local peculiarities that might make it a strange beast for most foreign applicants.

In the last few years we have seen the rise in popularity of multiple software applications, with the latest and biggest example being “Pokémon Go” developed by NIANTIC, Inc. However, where there is a rise in popularity of a product, there is always an increase on the amount of copycats and counterfeits.

While in Europe there is a larger restriction for software patents, in the United States these restrictions are softer and the American Supreme Court has already issued several decisions concerning the matter.

Kickass Torrents (KAT) is one of the largest file sharing websites in the world that has allowed people to copy and distribute more than $1 billion worth of media. Since its inception in 2008, KAT has provided a directory that allows users to download TV shows, music, movies, videogames and other types of media. It is estimated that the aggregation of media that has circulated the website to be worth $1 billion.

A court battle between Apple and Network-1 from 2008 had a recent development. It all started when a company named Mirror Worlds filed a lawsuit against Apple, due to an infringement of patents describing streams of information in a computer system. A similar functionality is found in Apple’s Time Machine and Cover Flow.

In 2010, a preliminary jury trial, concerning four of those patents resulted in a $625 Million trial against Apple, however the latter managed to successfully appeal the case 6 months later, but dragged the process further.

Past April 20th, 2016 the Rwandan government has released an Official Gazette Special.

This important document, drafted in Kinyarwanda, French and English, makes effective recently promulgated laws and modifies various IP laws. The main changes are the following:

A Chinese court has ruled against Apple in a case over the use of the ‘iPhone’ trademark claiming that the Californian company failed to prove the term was “familiar to the public and widely known” at the time of registration. The trademark ‘iPhone’ was registered by the Chinese company Xintong Tiandi Technology Co. in 2007 on the same year the iPhone was launched, although it was not available in China until 2009. The company is a leather manufacturer that commercialises leather goods such as phone cases, purses, handbags and wallets.

The concept of keeping things as ‘simple and concise’ as possible in business and commercial affairs is frequently endorsed by marketing strategists as being the sure proof path to gaining visibility and the attention of the public. However, said strategy also carries an amount of risk when it comes to obtaining a trademark registration.