Toby Bond

New Polish Restrictions on Pharmacy Ownership

Operating and establishing pharmacies has long been subject to strict regulations in Poland, for example anti-concentration requirements and the ban on advertising pharmacies.

France Launches Healthcare Big Data

France is in the process of establishing a legal system (“Système national des données de santé” – national healthcare big data system) that will allow access to the healthcare data collected from the national medical insurance, hospitals and other public organisations.

Smart Cars and Personal Data

Currently a growing trend can be observed in the automotive industry – the emergence of automated driving. Several large, established automotive firms, as well as relatively new players, are all busy preparing for the launch of fully autonomous vehicles conforming to the SAE 5 standard, i.e. capable of automated steering, acceleration, deceleration, monitoring the driving environment, and addressing all critical situations without having to rely on human assistance.

Bird & Bird launches its 'JudgmentDay' app to provide clients with timely access to UK intellectual property judgments

International law firm Bird & Bird today launches JudgmentDay, a first of its kind app designed to provide clients with timely access to selected UK intellectual property judgments.

Bird & Bird wins four awards at the Euromoney LMG Europe Women in Business Law Awards 2017

Bird & Bird collected four awards last night at the Euromoney LMG Europe Women in Business Law Awards 2017, held at the Jumeriah Carlton Tower, London.

Bird & Bird named 'one of the world's foremost IP heavyweights' in newly released IAM Patent 1000

Bird & Bird has yet again secured a great set of results in the latest edition of the IAM Patent 1000 guide to patent practice.

Breakfast Seminar: A new era for Data Protection and Cyber Security in China

DR Essentials Breakfast Briefing: Effective pre-dispute management

Preparations for the UPC speed up

The Preparatory Committee announced that it is working under the assumption that the Provisional Application Phase of the UPC will start in May 2017 and that the Court itself will come into force/become operational in December 2017. Eleven countries (including France, but not the UK and Germany) have already ratified the UPC Agreement and a number of other countries are poised to do so.

UK: General Court holds that Traditional Speciality Guaranteed designation cannot be obtained where registration would conflict with other EU product labelling rules

The General Court (GC) has upheld the European Commission's decision to reject the Czech Republic's application for registration of ‘pomazánkové máslo’ (spreadable butter) as a traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG) under Regulation 509/2006 and its replacement Regulation 1151/2012 (the 'Quality Schemes Regulation').

English Court of Appeal split on whether own-name defence to trade mark infringement could be relied on in ASSOS v ASOS

In a decision handed down this afternoon by the Court of Appeal in Roger Maier and Assos of Switzerland SA –v- ASOS plc and ASOS.com Limited, the Court decided that the use of the brand "ASOS" by the Defendants created a likelihood of confusion and damaged the distinctive character of the ASSOS registered trade mark.