Intellectual Property and the Footwear and Textile Industries – by Jane Lambert
According to the East Midlands Textile Association (“Emtex”) the East
Midlands has the highest concentration of clothing and textile
companies in the UK. Nottingham lace, Leicester knitwear, Northampton
shoes have an enormous international reputation founded on branding,
craftsmanship and design.
These intellectual assets that are protected by registered trade
marks, registered designs and other intellectual property laws and on
the 10 Sept and 7 Oct 2915 I shall explore such legal protection in a
seminar for MBL entitled Intellectual Property and the Fashion Industry.
In this seminar I will cover the following topics:
• What sort of IP protection does my employer or client require for his business and where?
• What provisions should I insert in my employer or client’s licence or manufacturing agreement?
• What should I do if I find copies or lookalikes of my products in competitors’ shops?
• What’s Hot? The implementation of s.74 of the Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform Act 2013 – John Kaldor v Lee Ann/Specsavers
vASDA/Thomas Pink v Victoria’s Secrets
• IP basics; terminology, intellectual assets (brands, designs,
technology and works of art and literature), intellectual property
(trade marks, registered designs and unregistered design rights,
patents, trade marks, law of confidence and action for passing off),
institutions (Intellectual Property Office, Office for Harmonization in
the Internal Market, European Patent Office, World Intellectual Property
Organization), Sources of law (treaties and conventions (TRIPs, Paris
and Berne), EU legislation, statutes), enforcement. remedies, licensing
• Advising the designer: types of design, aesthetic design, functional
design, design registration and equivalent regimes, TRIPS, Paris and
Rome Conventions, Designs Directive, Community Design Regulation,
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, Registered Designs Act 1949,
licensing, enforcement
• Advising the manufacturer; patents, trade marks, designs, licensing,
cabbage, summary of laws in China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Morocco,
Pakistan, Thailand and Turkey
• Advising the retailer: trade marks, passing off, searches, agreements with designers and manufacturers
• Dispute resolution: High Court, Patent Court, IPEC (multi track and small claims), IPO examiners’ opinions, appointed person
• IP strategy: identifying appropriate rights for particular
jurisdictions, selecting and instructing foreign attorneys, watch
services.