IN THE aftermath of the untimely death of Michael Jackson, among the little-known facts to emerge is that the singer was also a patented inventor.
Fans of his Smooth Criminal video, in which Jackson and his dancers appear to lean at impossible angles, will have wondered about the technique used to achieve this amazing effect. In the video, cables were used and edited out later, but for subseque
nt live shows this method was not practical. Jackson and his co-inventors devised a hollow-heeled shoe that would latch onto pegs periodically protruding from the stage floor.
Sweet smell of victory? • THE European Court of Justice (ECJ) has given its judgment in the case brought by L'Oréal against imitation perfume manufacturer, Bellure.
L'Oréal had complained about the use by Bellure of comparison lists which made use of L'Oréal registered trademarks claiming that the Bellure perfumes smelled like certain L'Oréal perfumes.
The ECJ found that Bellure's use of packaging and bottles similar to those of L'Oréal took unfair advantage of the company's trademarks.
The decision will be welcomed by brand owners, but will give the manufacturers of lookalike products (including supermarket own-brand products) and those engaged in comparative advertising that goes beyond simple comparison of objective criteria, cause for concern.
War of the flowers heads to EuropeTHE High Court has given a decision on the question of Google AdWords in a case brought by relay flower network, Interflora, against Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Flowers Direct.
By the time of the hearing, Interflora had reached an agreement with Flowers Direct and Interflora's claim only continued against M&S.
The high street giant has been using the trademark Interflora (and various misspellings) as a Google AdWord to promote its own flower delivery website.
The court refused to grant Interflora an interim injunction to stop this and referred the question on the use of trademarks as AdWords to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
Brand owners will anxiously wait for the decisions from the ECJ, in the hope that the legal position on the use of trademarks as sponsored keywords will be clarified.
'Green' patents to be fast-tracked THE UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has introduced a scheme through which parties applying for UK patent protection for an invention relating to "Green or environmentally friendly" technology can request fast-tracking of their patent application. The scheme came into force on 12 May.
Previously, applicants were required to provide a good business reason to illustrate why the IPO should deal with a particular application over and above other pending applications.
The ability to speed up the process could help applicants, especially early stage companies where demonstrating novelty of idea can help obtain funding.
Unholy row over Black SabbathOZZY Osbourne has filed a lawsuit against a former bandmate for rights associated with the name Black Sabbath.
Osbourne has accused Tony Iommi of wrongly claiming to have sole rights to the band's name. Iommi claims Osbourne relinquished his legal rights to the name Black Sabbath, registered by Iommi as a US trademark in 2000, by leaving the band several times and having no part in the line-up from 1985 to 1997.
Osbourne claims it was his "signature vocals" that accounted for the band's success and seeks lost profits, unspecified damages and recognition that all four of the band's founder members are co-owners of the trademark.
Addressing Iommi directly, Osbourne said: "We've all worked too hard and long in our careers to allow you to sell merchandise that features all our faces."
The case emphasises the importance of clearly identifying the owner(s) of any trademarks before they are legally registered, and subsequently ensuring any changes are accurately recorded with the trademark authorities.
• Marks & Clerk provides intellectual property advice worldwide. Contact it at: scotland@marks-clerk.com or visit www.marks-clerk.com
The full article contains 653 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
