Early Nazi period newspapers, including the official Nazi publication Voelkischer Beobachter, can be reprinted in Germany, according to a ruling by a Read the rest of this entry »
Munich Court Rules that Early Nazi-Era Newspapers May Be Reprinted
March 26, 2009
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Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Australian Patent and Trademark Agency Sacks 11 Contractors
March 25, 2009The Australian Patent and Trademark Agency, like that in Israel, US and Europe, operates as a closed agency, using income Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Australia, Israel, Israel Trademark, trademarks | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Cubist suing Teva in patent dispute
March 25, 2009Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has been sued by Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. for infringement of patents relating to Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Israel Related, Patents, Teva, drugs, pharmaceuticals, pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Camtek Intends to Oppose Jury Verdict in Rudolph Patent Infringement Case
March 22, 2009Rudolph Technologies, Inc. has won a jury verdictinn their patent infringement case against Camtek Ltd., pending in the U.S. Federal District Court in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The verdict awarded damages of approximately $6.8 million in favor of Rudolph with regard to sales of Camtek’s Falcon products in the United States.
The alleged infringement refers to a U.S. patent only, and, thus any judgment or injunction, will have effect only in the United States. Meanwhile Camtek represented by Adv. Adi Levit and Orbotech represented by Adv. David Gilat are still slugging it out in Israel.
Leave a Comment » | Intellectual Property, Israel, Israel Patent, News, Patents, US, infringement | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
European Commission Calls for single EU Patent
March 19, 2009The European Commission has repeated its demand for a single European patent, stating that Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Israel Patent Office Allows Descriptive Slogan to be Registered as a Trademark
March 17, 2009In a somewhat odd decision, Israel IP Arbitrator, Noach Shmulovich has ruled to allow registration of slogan ‘A Diamond in Your Pocket’ as a trademark on Read the rest of this entry »
3 Comments | Copyright, IPO, Intellectual Property, Israel, Israel IP, Israel Patent Office, Israel Patent Office Rulings, Israel Related, Israel Trademark | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Copyright in Chess Move sequences?
March 17, 2009The Bulgarian Chess Federation banned ChessBase, the world’s biggest online chess portal, from broadcasting a match live, citing copyright infringement.
This raises fascinating issues.
Generally, sports broadcasting has been copyright protected – see, for example, Israeli Supreme Court’s Tele-Event decision. Usually, some creativity on the part of the cameraman or editor is used as justification for awarding protection.
In this instance, ChessBase was steaming the moves using a text format notation and thus did not have any creative input whatsoever. If the moves themselves are considered copyright, then the rights are presumably property of the player and not the federation hostig a championship.
One assumes that noone is serious advocating that a move first played by someone cannot be played by another player until the creator has been dead for seventy years?
It does seem unlikely that a braodcaster requires the federation’s permission. On the other hand, why shouldn’t a hosting organization be able to maintain at least short term braodcasting rights of the moves?
”They issued a cease and desist, and we complied,” stated ChessBase co-founder Frederic Friedel. “It is too expensive, time-wise, to get involved in protracted lawsuits with Bulgarians, and there is little to gain, monetarily, from a victory.” Is this simply a case of copyright abuse?
Leave a Comment » | Copyright, Opinion, telecommunications | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Gucci loses Trademark for their Logo in Sweden
March 17, 2009The Swedish Court of Patent Appeals has upheld a registration for a trademark strongly resembling Gucci’s famous monogram that was filed by Gun Gabrielsson director of a tiny Swedish company in Gothenburg, Sweden. Gucci, suffers from pirate goods and now will have to manage without their famous double-G logo trademark protected in Sweden.
Back in 1954, Chanel won a trademark battle in Israel against a third party manufacturing perfume, where the judge ruled “Thou shalt not steal”, which, was, of course, plagiarism from the Bible.
Another related Israel Trademark case was Versace, where a third party registered the name and the fashion house started but abandoned opposition proceedings, arguably giving up rights and estoppelling themselves. Nevertheless, 20 years on, the Israel Patent Office allowed Versace to challenge the trademarks, accepted arguments and voided the marks.
In general, courts around the world may allow people to trademark businesses based on their name, so, for example, Lego couldn’t stop a Ms Lego opening an art gallery in Denmark, but monograms?
Leave a Comment » | famous marks, trademarks | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Israel Patent Office Moves Premises
March 16, 2009The Israel Patent Office is moving from it’s temporary premises in Talpiot, Jerusalem, over a car showroom, to the swanky Malchah High Tech Park also Jerusalem.
This is the second move in recent years. The Patent Office used to be in Givat Shaul, an older neighborhood of Jerusalem, in a building with a patented Pal-Kal ceiling. After the Versailles Wedding Hall disaster, the Patent Office decided that the ceiling construction they’d given a patent on, could not safely carry the weight of so many files.
Ironically, in recent months, the trademark office has gone paperless and patent files have been scanned, so perhaps the Givat Shaul premises would now be suitable. It’s certainly MUCH cheaper.
The move is to occur at the begining of April, and the patent office will be closed for a few days. Deadlines will automatically be extended however.
1 Comment | IPO, Intellectual Property, Israel, Israel IP, Israel Patent, Israel Patent Office, Israel Patent Office Rulings, Israel Related, News, Opinion | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
Recordal of Licensed Use of Trademark Postponed Whilst Registration Is Under Contentious Proceedings
March 15, 2009
Leave a Comment » | Israel Patent Office Rulings, Israel Related, Israel Trademark, Opinion | Permalink
Posted by Dr Michael Factor
