Intellectual Property Law

In a dramatic U-turn, the US government has signalled its support for waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines and medical tools to help developing countries tackle the global pandemic. The waiver was first proposed by India and South Africa last October in a detailed submissi

Leo Moore, partner at William Fry, examines a recent High Court decision and the potential implications for IP rights in sport. A live blocking injunction involves Internet Service Providers (ISPs) identifying and blocking illegal streams for the period of a Premier League football match. The list o

The General Court of the European Union has sided with Louis Vuitton in a long-running dispute over its canvas chequerboard print, The Fashion Law reports. The mark had been registered in 2008 with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) but in 2015 it was challenged by an individual

William Fry trainee solicitor Karolina Rozhnova considers a recent case in which Twitter was ordered by the High Court to disclose information about a parody account. The High Court has ordered Twitter to disclose information about the identity of creators and controllers of a parody account using t

The coronavirus pandemic makes Ireland's implementation of the new EU Copyright Directive "all the more important", a senior IP law expert has said. Dr Mark Hyland, IMRO adjunct professor of intellectual property law at the Law Society of Ireland, said creative industries "are being badly hit by the

Dr Aisling McMahon, assistant professor at Maynooth University Department of Law and an expert in medical and intellectual property law, makes the case for a (bio)ethics space within patent law. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on 12th March 2020 and by 9th April had claimed 81,580 lives. COVID-19 h

The UK will not seek to become a member of the proposed Unified Patent Court (UPC) despite earlier suggestions that it would, government officials have confirmed. An international agreement to establish the court was signed by most EU member states in 2013, but it is not an EU institution and the pr

The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and the Law Society of Ireland have announced the appointment of Dr Mark Hyland as the inaugural IMRO Adjunct Professor of Intellectual Property Law.

The General Court of the EU has confirmed that registration of the mark ‘NEYMAR’ by a third party is invalid. In December 2012, Mr Carlos Moreira, residing in Guimarães (Portugal), filed an application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for registration o

The General Court has annulled European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) decision refusing registration of the figurative mark ‘Chiara Ferragni’ as an EU trade mark In 2015, Italian entrepreneurs filed an application with EUIPO for registration of the following EU trade mar

Irish trademark law has been overhauled for the first time in over two decades following the transposition of an EU directive into Irish law. Four statutory instruments transposing EU Directive 2015/2436 into Irish law took effect on Monday:

The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has stripped McDonald's of its "Big Mac" trademark following an application from Galway-based fast food franchise Supermac's. In a landmark ruling, the EUIPO said McDonald's had not proven genuine use of the trademark in the five years prior to