Recent cases

DKH Retail Ltd v H Young Operations Ltd [2014] EWHC 4034 (IPEC)8 December 2014Two day trial in October 2014, Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Iona Berkeley was counsel for the Claimant. The subject matter of the case was UK Unregistered Design rights and Community Unregistered Design rights concerning fashion garments, specifically a gilet. The Claimant, DKH Retail, which trades as the brand Superdry, alleged UK and Community Design right […]
Max Mara Fashion Group Srl v OHIM3 December 2014Martin Howe QC appeared at the hearing and John Baldwin QC prepared the written submissions in this trade mark appeal to the EU General Court. The client (Mackays Stores Ltd) applied to register the mark “M & Co” but were opposed by Max Mara on the basis of likelihood of confusion with their own Italian […]
Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Gilead Sciences, Inc [2014] EWHC 39161 December 2014Andrew Lykiardopoulos QC, Tom Moody-Stuart and William Duncan all acted for Gilead (together with Justin Turner QC) in these patent infringement proceedings brought by Idenix in respect of Gilead’s product “Sovaldi” . The trial was heard over three weeks before Arnold J who dismissed Idenix’s claims of patent infringement and held in favour of Gilead. […]
Vringo Infrastructure Inc v ZTE (UK) Ltd [2014] EWHC 3924 (Pat)28 November 2014Daniel Alexander QC and Isabel Jamal represented ZTE (UK) Limited, the Defendant, in this patent action brought by Vringo Infrastructure Incorporated. The patent provided a method for relocation of protocol termination points in a mobile communication system which was declared essential to the 3GPP standards for UMTS. Birss J held that the patent as proposed […]
IT Human Resources Plc v Land [2014] EWHC 381224 November 2014IT Human Resources PLC (‘ITHR’) were represented by Jonathan Hill in their claim against Mr David Land, a former director, for infringing their copyright in bespoke recruitment database software Mr Land had written for them. Morgan J held that Mr Land had infringed the copyright in the software by providing it to a competitor company […]
Hospira UK Ltd v Genentech Inc [2014] EWHC 3857 (Pat)21 November 2014Richard Meade QCappeared as lead counsel for Hospira UK Limited, the Claimant, against Michael Tappin QC and Mark Chacksfield who acted on behalf of Genentech Inc. The two patents challenged by Hospira related to the breast cancer drug Herceptin and its active ingredient trastuzumab. Birss J held that one patent was to be revoked and […]
Omnibill (Pty) Ltd v Egpsxxx Ltd & Anor [2014] EWHC 3762 (IPEC)17 November 2014Henry Ward represented Omnibill (PTY) Ltd in their claim against Egpsxxx Ltd and Mr Robert Carter for copyright infringement. Photos owned by Omnibill appeared on Egps’ website. Copying was admitted. The dispute related to whether there was communication to the UK public and any personal liability of Mr Carter for Egps’ actions. Birss J, found […]
IPC Media Ltd v Media 10 Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 143912 November 2014This case concerned an attempt by IPC Media (the publishers of Ideal Home magazine) to restrain Media 10 (the organisers of the Ideal Home Show) from using ‘Ideal Home’ for online retail services, against a backdrop of long concurrent use of the mark ‘Ideal Home’. The representation on appeal was the same as at first […]
Les Laboratoires Servier & Anor v Apotex Inc & Ors (Rev 1) [2014] UKSC 5529 October 2014Andrew Lykiardopoulos QC appeared as junior counsel for Les Laboratoires Servier and Another, in this Supreme Court decision. The appeal related to the applicability of the defence of illegality to absolve liability for payment of a cross-undertaking in damages. The undertaking was given for an injunction relating to a pharmaceutical patent which was later found […]
HTC Corporation v Gemalto SA [2014] EWCA Civ 1335 (22 October 2014)22 October 2014James Mellor QC led Gemalto S.A.’s legal team in their appeal regarding construction of a claim in an allegedly infringed microcontroller patent (‘865’). Michael Tappin QC appeared as lead counsel for HTC. At first instance, Birss J had held that 865 was partially invalid and HTC had not infringed. Applying the Kirin Amgen principles, Lord […]