Europe-wide Contract Law ProposedOn 1 July 2010 the European Commission published a Green Paper setting out policy options for introducing a European contract law for consumers and businesses.
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DANGEROUS LETTERS OF INTENT
Oct 2010: Müller supplies dairy products and RTS supplies and installs machinery for packaging food products. Müller selected RTS to supply it with a system to package yoghurt pots and start was agreed under a letter of intent that set out the full contract sum and it also stated that the final contract would be based on Müller’s amended form of MF1 and for a limited four-week “initial” period. Negotiations dragged and the initial period came and went and the letter of intent was not issued. RTS worked and Müller paid until a dispute aose. RTS refused to finish installing the equipment. Mr Justice Clarke of Technology and Construction Court found that the letter of intent had expired at the end of the initial period and did not govern the relationship between the parties thereafter. It also decided that as the parties continued to carry out works after the letter of intent had expired, they intended to create legal relations and enter into a contract but was not the MF1 terms but one that excluded some of the MF/1 terms (limited contract). RTS now argued that no contract was concluded after the letter of intent expired and as there was no formal contract RTS was entitled to bring a quantum meruit claim. The Court of Appeal decided that there was no contract between the parties because the MF1 terms included a “subject to contract” clause and therefore that no contract was formed. The Supreme Court confirmed that the letter of intent had expired at the end of the initial period; and conduct thereafter suggested that parties intended to enter into a contract and amounted to a waiver of the “subject to contract” clause and that therefore the full MF1 had been entered into.
Comment: Three separate court proceedings! Three different decisions! Make sure letters of intent are for (i) a limited scope of works and (ii) a limited period of time and (iii) for a limited maximum sum and (iv) must specify what will happen when the letter expires and the default position if the expected position does not occur.
RTS Flexible Systems Limited v Molkerei Alois Müller Gmbh & Company KG (UK Production) (2010). (The Müller case)
Research in Motion UK Ltd v Motorola Inc, Ch Div (Arnold J), 3/2/10
Motorola’s European patent concerning a messaging gateway system was invalid as lacking an inventive step, and was not infringed by two systems operated by the claimant under the well-known BlackBerry trade mark.
Court: High Court (Patents Court) (England and Wales)
Blinx UK Ltd v Blinkbox Entertainment Ltd, Ch Div (Floyd J), 5/2/10
Blinx UK Ltd v Blinkbox Entertainment Ltd, Ch Div (Floyd J), 5/2/10
Location: Case TypesIntellectual PropertyTrade Marks
Posted by: Law Brief Publishing 24/02/2010 23:24
An application for an interim injunction, restraining use of a name alleged to amount to passing off and trade mark infringement, was refused where the claimant had delayed more than a year in bringing the application. The claimant’s website BLINKX.COM provided access to film, television and video content, and the defendant had launched BLINKBOX.COM offering a service for viewing, customising and sharing television and video clips. It had been unreasonable and unjustified for the claimant to wait until confusion arose in the market before commencing proceedings
Court: No court set yet
Procter & Gamble Company v Reckitt Benckiser (UK) Ltd [2007] EWCA Civ 936 (10 October 2007)
Procter & Gamble Company v Reckitt Benckiser (UK) Ltd [2007] EWCA Civ 936 (10 October 2007)
An appeal was allowed against a decision that P’s registered Community design for an air freshener spray container had been infringed by R’s product. It was sufficient to avoid infringement if the accused product was of a design which produced a different overall impression. There was no policy requirement that it be ‘clearly’ different. It was legitimate to compare the registered design and the alleged infringement with a reasonable degree of care. The possibility of imperfect recollection had a limited part to play in the exercise. In the instant case, the similarities between the products were at too general a level to say fairly that they would produce on the informed user the same overall impression.
Court: Court Of Appeal (Civil Division) (England and Wales)
Bailey & Anor v Haynes & Ors [2006] EWPCC 5 (02 October 2006)
Bailey & Anor v Haynes & Ors [2006] EWPCC 5 (02 October 2006)
The claimants alleged infringement of UK and Community unregistered design rights (UDR) in a polyvinyl alcohol warp knitted ladder-resistant micromesh bait bag used to catch freshwater fish. It was held that the 3D structure was excluded from UK UDR protection under the ‘method or principle of construction’ exclusion. A challenge to subsistence of Community UDR based on functionality failed because the design was not the only design which was capable of achieving the function of containing fine bait in proscribed circumstances. However, there was no infringement because on the evidence the defendants had designed their own product independently.
Court: Patents County Court (England and Wales)
New Data Protection Fines
New £500,000 Data Protection Fines come into play.
From 6th April 2010, the Information Commissioner (ICO) will be able to order organisations to pay up to £500,000 as a penalty for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act. The ICO has produced statutory guidance about how it proposes to use this new power, which has been approved by the Secretary of State for Justice, and was laid before Parliament in January.
Cranway Ltd v Playtech Ltd & Ors [2009] EWHC 1588
Cranway Ltd v Playtech Ltd & Ors [2009] EWHC 1588 (Pat) (07 July 2009)
A patent concerning a home computer gaming system was revoked on grounds of (1) lack of novelty in light of the prior art; (2) obviousness over the common general knowledge and prior art; and (3) consisting wholly of excluded matter under s.1(2) of the Patents Act 1977, the subject matter being a computer program not claiming a technical effect.
Court: High Court (Patents Court) (England and Wales)
Quads 4 Kids v Campbell, Ch Div (Pumfrey J), 13/10/06
Quads 4 Kids v Campbell, Ch Div (Pumfrey J), 13/10/06
An injunction was granted, based on an action for statutory threats of proceedings for infringement of a sequence of Community registered designs for a child’s dirt bike. Quads 4 Kids had been offering children’s quad bikes for sale on eBay. Campbell alleged the bikes infringed his design rights, and he availed himself of eBay’s VeRO system to prevent Q from selling them. This involved merely completing an online form recording the registration number of the designs. Publication of the registered designs had been deferred and C did not disclose the design file. Q argued that the registered designs were likely not to be valid. It was seriously triable that the use of the VeRO system amounted to an actionable threat, taking a wider view than previously as a result of the clear potential for abuse of registered rights which this system was open to. Substantial damage was being caused, which C was unlikely to be able to compensate.
Court: High Court (Chancery Division) (England and Wales)
