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Recent cases

HRH The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Limited22 March 2021Two consequential judgments have been handed down following the recent summary judgment application made by HRH The Duchess of Sussex against Associated Newspapers on issues within her claim for copyright infringement. The proceedings had concerned the publication by the Defendant in the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline of extracts of a handwritten letter sent by […]
Facebook Ireland Ltd v Voxer IP LLC 19 March 2021Jaani Riordan represented Facebook in this pre-trial review which raised an important point of patent pleading practice. The patentee, Voxer, sought to introduce an infringement case based on the doctrine of equivalents, relying on Actavis v Eli Lilly [2017] UKSC 48.  The issue for the court was whether such a case needed to be pleaded […]
Michael Penhallurick v MD5 Limited15 February 2021Michael Conway acted for the defendant, MD5 Limited, in this claim for copyright infringement. Mr Penhallurick was a former employee of MD5. He claimed ownership of copyright in eight works relating to the source code and a user guide for a computer programme called “Virtual Forensic Computing” (VFC).  MD5 Limited is his former employer. The […]
HRH The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Limited11 February 2021Jessie Bowhill acted in the counsel team for HRH The Duchess of Sussex in her application for summary judgment.  Adrian Speck QC and Isabel Jamal acted in the counsel team for Associated Newspapers Limited resisting the application. The proceedings concern the publication by the Defendant in the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline of extracts of […]
Software Solutions v 365 Health9 February 2021Jaani Riordan acted for the Claimants in a software copyright dispute involving mental health applications created using the Claimants’ multimedia software authoring tool. The judgment offers a detailed examination of the rights subsisting in XML files and data formats, and the principles applicable to software licences and assignments. The Defendants claimed to have acquired the […]
Lifestyle Equities v Amazon27 January 2021James Mellor QC and Max Keay appeared for the defendants, Amazon, in this trial of a trade mark dispute.  The dispute was whether Amazon had infringed trade marks for “Beverly Hills Polo Club” by allowing goods branded under those marks to be listed on their US website in a way that made them visible to […]
Optis and Unwired Planet v Apple26 January 2021Isabel Jamal and Jennifer Dixon acted for Optis and Unwired Planet in the hearing of this application by Apple.  The dispute between the parties encompasses multiple trials concerning standards essential patents and FRAND licence terms.  Apple applied to vary a case management order, made in July 2020, which scheduled a sixth trial in the dispute […]
Illumina Cambridge Ltd v MGI20 January 2021Isabel Jamal appeared as part of a multi-counsel team for the Defendants in this patent validity and infringement trial concerning DNA sequencing technology.  Five Illumina patents were in issue. Three of the patents, all concerning modified nucleotides, were considered together.  In light of challenges on the basis of obviousness, priority, insufficiency and added matter, amendments […]
Hanger Holdings Ltd v Perlake Corporation SA19 January 2021Jonathan Hill acted for the successful claimant in proceedings seeking to recover the valuable domain name blackjack.com from the defendant Simon Croft.  In finding for the claimant the English High Court for the first time held that a domain name was a form of intangible personal property, following the approach taken by the Ontario Court […]
Coloplast A/S v Salts Healthcare Ltd18 January 2021Andrew Lykiardopoulos QC and Max Keay appeared for the claimant, Coloplast, in this patent infringement and validity trial.  The subject matter of the one patent in issue was ostomy bags, and specifically a woven textile comfort layer to provide a bag with increased resistance against tearing and pulling forces. The Defendant, Salts, had launched a […]