sutton044

This evening, it was the annual IBIL and MARQUES event - Question the Trade Mark Judges   this time in UCL's snazzy new lecture theatre. This year the judges were: HHJ Melissa Clarke (Senior Circuit Judge, Designated Civil Judge for Thames Valley, Beds & Herts) Judge Octavia Spineanu-Matei (General Court, Court of Justice of the European Union) The Hon Mrs Justice Vivien Rose Harri Salmi (EUIPO Boards of Appeal member) The debate was meant to be chaired by The Rt Hon Professor Sir Robin Jacob but due to various transport related delays, Roland Mallinson stepped into the breach for the first half. Both chairs posed a set of pre-selected questions from the audience. A quick plug from MARQUES Before things kicked off, Roland Mallison gave a short plug for MARQUES' amicus curiae team. If readers have any cases where it might be helpful to have MARQUES' input, they should get in touch. How much training is required to become a judge? The judges all had very different backgro...

The AmeriKat has been noticeably whiskers down in her day job over the past few months .  But now, with the frenzy of a new Court term still several weeks away, she has taken the relatively quiet opportunity to review the much awaited publication of the EU IPO's report entitled " The Baseline of Trade Secrets Litigation in the EU ".  This report was commissioned by the EU IPO in order to prepare the future report that will assess what impact the EU Trade Secrets Directive has had (see previous Kat posts here ).  That report is to be published before 9 June 2021 (just think, 2021...what might be in store for us   then?). The AmeriKat's whiskers now alert to the EUIPO's Baseline Trade Secrets Study The 436-page report covers all 28 Member States and addresses how each jurisdiction deals with definitional issues, scope of protection, sources of law, enforcement (contractual, tortious, criminal, equitable, etc) and cross border issues relating to trade secrets (confid...