The Thom Browne/Adidas Decision: another battle of the stripes

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview their HGF colleagues Susanne Bilderbeek and Olivia Petter on smell-a-like perfumes and compare and contrast UK, Benelux and German trade mark and copyright case law on perfume comparison lists and smell-a-like perfumes.Timestaps:4:54 So-called smell-alike perfumes case law8:40 Smell-alike perfumes and German case law15:00 Is there any UK case law on this

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview Professor Johanna Gibson of Queen Mary University of London. We touch on the new Fashion Law LLM, the first fashion law LLM in the United Kingdom and discuss fashion IP cases past, present and future.Timestamps:6:49 - The new Fashion Law LLM at Queen Mary10:28 - Historical fashion IP law case21:09 – Supreme court

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barrister Victoria Jones from the chambers 3PB in this edition of the Fashionably IP podcast on good practice in contentious proceedings before the UKIPO. Victoria provides tips on good practice in evidence and oral arguments and the benefits of using a barrister in UKIPO proceedings. Of course, the podcast will also have a fashion spin as always.Timestamps:3:39 - Could you give an explanation of how the UKIPO Tribunal system works and maybe some of the similarities and differences to UK court proceedings?6:19 - Can you explain the role of a barrister in UKIPO Tribunal proceedings and when do you think it best they are engaged in the proceedings?15:28 - Fashion cases you have dealt with before the UKIPO with regards to trade marks

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis interview barrister Daniel Selmi of Three New Square in this edition of the Fashionably IP podcast on the concept of the informed user in UK and EU registered design law. Who is the informed user? How does the informed user impact the assessment of design infringement, validity of registered designs and prior art? Has the concept of the informed user impacted any fashion cases?Timestamps: 3:23 - The concept of the informed user and how does this concept impact the assessment of prior art and design corpus in a UK or EU registered design case?6:27 - How the product for which the registered design can impact the assessment of prior art and design corpus in a UK or EU registered design case9:21 - What is the difference between the concept of the average consumer under UK and EU registered trade mark law and the informed user registered design law?11:09 - How the informed user has impacted any fashion design cases in the UK and/or EU? Can you make any comparisons with the average consumer in trade mark cases and the utility of these sorts of notional constructs of IP law?13:35 - How the courts assessment of the informed user has evolved overtime and how UK courts post Brexit might diverge from the assessment of this concept compared to EU courts.

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the often misunderstood concept of honest concurrent use and fashion brands in the United Kingdom. What is the history of this concept and how does it apply to the world of fashion brands?Timestamps:2:44 - What is honest concurrent use under UK trade mark law?8:19 - Fashion cases where the concept has been applied9:57 – conclusions

Lee Curtis and Rebecca Field discuss the recent Thom Browne/Adidas decision of the English High Court concerning the battle of the three and four stripes. The decision was long and wide-ranging concerning invalidity, infringement, passing off, post-sale confusion and honest concurrent use in the world of fashion.Timestamps:4:16 - the trade mark invalidity proceedings first and what the High Court decided?9:19 - trade mark infringement and passing off proceedings13:54 - Summary of the conclusion of the decision

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss non-use revocation actions and fashion brands in the United Kingdom and European Union. What constitutes use? Do you need to use a trade mark in the exact form of the registered trade mark? What are the valid reasons for non-use?Timestamps:2:49 - The basics of Law6:42 - Cases in the EU of non-use and trademarks in the UK and the EU11:01 - Can anything be learnt from these decisions?

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the application of copyright to the world of fashion. Why is it harder to enforce copyright in fashion items in the US compared to the EU? How are fashion items protected by copyright in the UK?Timestamps:2:16 - Copyright might naturally be thought to be a very apt IP right to apply to fashion, but why has it been generally difficult to apply such rights to the world of fashion at least in the United Kingdom and United States of America?6:15 - Other cases in the EU on the subject of copyright protection and fashion8:23 - Are there any lessons to be learned from these cases in the US, UK and EU?

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis provide a short history of fashion IP law. They discuss the differences between US, UK and EU fashion IP law and explain that many of the differences are down to history.Timestamps:2:46 - Introduction to the development of IP law?5:42 - History of fashion IP law?10:57 - differing attitudes to the protection of fashion IP rights between Europe and the US12:42 - What has the discussion shown about the history of fashion IP law?

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis discuss the IP rights applying to women’s shoes. Rebecca and Lee concentrate on probably the most famous women’s shoes of all, notably the red sole of Christian Louboutin. They discuss how the red sole was registered and some of the IP disputes surrounding that shoe in the EU and US.Timestamps:2:49 - How was Christian Louboutin's red sole shoe registered in the UK5.44 - IP disputes with the Christian Louboutin red sole8:49 - What other IP rights could apply to the design of a shoe?11:15 - HGF IP in Retail Conference