SCOTS APPOINT A FOURTH IP JUDGE; BUDDY HELL


Scots appoint a fourth IP judge

The IPKat's friend Gill Grassie (Maclay Murray & Spens, Edinburgh) has just informed him that the Lord President in the Court of Session has appointed Lord Hodge as a fourth IP judge for Scotland, with effect from 1 April 2006. The other three are Lord Kingarth, Lord Glennie and Lord Emslie.

Says Gill excitedly:
"I think this additional IP judge is good news for us and is a reaction to the increase in the amount of IP litigation coming to the Scottish courts".

Left: potential hazard for Scottish judges in musical copyright infringement proceedings

The IPKat is thrilled to see how seriously Scotland is taking its commitment to making that jurisdiction so user-friendly for IP litigants. Merpel adds, funny thing though: if you go to the Scottish Courts website and search the Court of Session for IP cases, you'll only find five of them since the beginning of 2004. Where are the cases hiding?

Biographical notes on Lord Hodge here
Some major producers of Scottish IP here, here and here


Buddy Hell!

Another of the IPKat's friends - Aaron Wood (Davenport Lyons) - has tipped him off about a little snippet he read in Marketing Magazine. Apparently, despite paying US$40 million to be a global sponsor of this year's soccer World Cup, Anheuser-Busch cannot use the BUDWEISER name in Germany and cannot therefore display it around the football grounds in which the event is hosted. Can any reader confirm the circumstances that led to this (on the assumption that the story is true)?
SCOTS APPOINT A FOURTH IP JUDGE; BUDDY HELL SCOTS APPOINT A FOURTH IP JUDGE; BUDDY HELL Reviewed by Jeremy on Thursday, April 06, 2006 Rating: 5

2 comments:

  1. I did not read the story but at least Budejovicky Budvar is the owner of the registered German trademark Nr. 1 180 901 "Budweiser Budvar"-Logo.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Budweiser is sold in Germany under the name Anheuser Busch Bud. This is because the Czech brewery has the rights to the name in Germany. Budweiser is also prohibited from advertising in Germany because Bitburger, a German brewer whose product is usually abbreviated to "Bit", obtained a court order based on the likelihood of phonetic confusion between "Bud" and "Bit". The advertising prohibition has been lifted for the duration of the World Cup because Budweiser has granted Bitburger the right to sell their beer at the matches as well.

    ReplyDelete

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