Intellectual Property Law

Obesity

Intellectual Property Law

Introduction

Every jurisdiction has its own national laws which vary for protecting intellectual property rights. The constitution that is formed in the UK is not only based on a single document, but it has been derived from statutes, judgements of courts, treaties, parliamentary conventions and variety of other sources. The law which applies includes the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the Patents Act 1977 and the Trade Marks Act 1994 (Landes & Posner 2003, p.64). The intellectual property law has been the main force behind recognizing the intellectual property rights throughout the history.

Discussion

Intellectual Property Law

The law of intellectual property has been designed in order to provide safety of legal rights to traders, producers, artists, writers and many others that crate something contrasting (Giles 1995, p.239). This safety of legal rights can be provided by a copyright, by a registered patent, by a registered trademark or by a secret law related to the case.

Trade Marks Act 1994

The Trade Marks Act 1994 deals with issues related to trademarks in the United Kingdom. This law replaced the previously formed existing law of 1938. The act has the authority to issue civil as well as legal sanctions in case of misuse of trade marks that are registered.

Relative Grounds for Refusal of a Trademark Application

Section 5 of the Trade Mark Act of 1994 defines the relative grounds for refusal of a trademark Application. Relative grounds for refusal are those when an applied mark or a similar one is already available or in use. The relative grounds include:

Earlier Sign

If a new trade mark that is being judged for trade marking matches with an already existing trade mark than it is subjected to rejection. The already existing trademark can be a UK national trademark, an international trademark or a community trademark. This clause is defined under section 5(1).

Signs that are Identical for Identical goods

If a new sign that is being judged for trade marking matches with an already existing trade mark and it is identical to the product as well than it is subjected to rejection. According to the law, modified signs or signs with some addition to the already existing one, are not considered identical (Machulp & Penrose 1950, p.25). This clause is defined under section 5(1).

Identical signs for similar goods

If the new product is not identical to the any of the already existing products, but the product's sign is identical, then it ...