Trade Marks & UK Common Law - Update Your Knowledge

Introduction

For many, navigating common law jurisdictions can be challenging, especially in the field of intellectual property.

This webinar will explore how common law should be considered, can be used, and how it operates in the United Kingdom at all the important stages of a trade mark’s life cycle.

It will include how to commercially gauge and evaluate passing off rights during clearance searching, how the common law operates when enforcing (or defending) both at the UKIPO Tribunal Section and in pre-action correspondence and also, how the common law can determine acquiescence estoppel which is an entirely different beast to estoppel by laches.

The webinar will also share insight into some other peculiarities of the UK Trade Marks Act in this area of the law, such as how it is technically legally impossible to assign goodwill.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• How common law operates in the UK (and its importance) as it pertains to the life cycle of a trade mark
• How the common law tort of passing off works in the UK courts and UKIPO contentious proceedings
• How the tort of passing off can sometimes win the day, when statute can otherwise fail
• How and why goodwill technically cannot be assigned - and how to get around this

This webinar was recorded on 7th December 2023