Geographical Indications - Single Malt Welsh Whisky/Wisgi Cymreig Brag Sengl

Perderyn Distillery

Author JTreg52 Licence CC BY-SA 4.0 Source Wikimedia Commons

 

Jane Lambert

Art 54 (2) of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community required HM Government to continue to protect geographical indications under the laws of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland after 23:00 on 31 Dec 2023.  I discussed the protection of geographical indications after that date in Geographical Indications in the UK after 31 Dec 2020 in NIPC Law on 30 Sept 2020.  I considered how such protection would apply to Wales in The New Protected Food Names Scheme as it will apply in Wales on 26 Oct 2020.

The latest product to be registered under the scheme is Single Malt Welsh Whiskey (see the Secretary of State's Decision Notice of 24 July 2023).  According to the Product Specification, the application was launched by a consortium of five distillers styled "The Welsh Whisky Association" on 12 Aug 2021. The members of that consortium were Penderyn Distillery at Pontpren, Aberfalls Distillery at Abergwyngregyn, Dà Mhile Distillery at Llandysul, Coles Distillery at Llanddarog and In the Welsh Wind Distillery at Tan-yr-Groes.

The Product Specification contains a description of the whisky, its ingredients, provenance and details of its production.  There is also information on the link between the spirit and its geographical origin,

Any appeal against the decision must be lodged with the First Tier Tribunal before 21 Sept 2023.

Anyone wishing to discuss this article may call me on +44 (0)20 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.

Online Pitch Perfect

Photographer Harvey Milligan Licence CC BY-SA 4.0

 

Jane Lambert

The buccaneering spirit of the ingenious and resourceful young men and women who presented their businesses at Pitch Perfect last night was symbolized by a magnificent sailing boat moored in the Menai Strait.  This was a friendly competition for funding along the lines of the terrestrial Pitch Perfect that I described in A Good Way to spend St David's Day 2 March 2019 and Pitch Perfect Number 2 7 June 2020. Each of the competitors presented his or her pitch in a short video showing the contestant on the deck of the vessel.

As in previous Pitch Perfect events, the contestants were questioned by three judges from the business support sector.  Members of the audience were also invited to ask supplementary questions.  There seemed to be a lot more contributions from the audience than on previous occasions.  That was probably because it was a lot easier to use the Zoom chat channel than slido   The event was chaired very efficiently by Emily Roberts who held each and every one of the contestants to his or her allotted time with grace and humour and still allowed for time for a tea break and one-to-one networking. 

Sadly, I missed a lot of the content, particularly at the beginning of the show.  That was because my internet connection went down several times.  Even when the connection was restored, the sound quality was far from perfect.  The English channel was barely audible and the sound quality of the Welsh channel was only slightly better.  Also, although I have started to learn Welsh there is a limit to how much of a conversation in a new language can be followed after just a few weeks of study.

Consequently, I can't tell you much about the individual entries or winners except that the winner of the cash prize was a very enterprising young woman and the winner of the non-cash prize which included Chamber membership and some professional services was a gentleman called Stephen.  I can name only one judge, Geraint, who (I think) works for the Development Bank of Wales.  There was a wide range of business ideas ranging from therapies to telecoms.  My own favourite was a scheme to market sheep's milk - possibly because I live in the Pennines (formerly part of the Old North) which like the current North of Wales is sheep rearing country.  Someone in the chat channel wrote "I like your logo" in Welsh in the chat channel.  Indeed, several of the contestants received similar comments.

A good logo or brand name can become the most valuable asset of a business and the best way of preserving that asset is to register it as a trade mark.  Although it is probably quicker, safer and more convenient to instruct a trade mark attorney to act for you, it is quite possible for a reasonably intelligent and educated business owner to register a mark without professional intervention.  If you want to instruct a trade mark attorney the best place to start is the website of the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys ("CITMA"). A good attorney will make a search, advise you on registrability, draft and file an application that is likely to be accepted and shepherd you pay any objections from the examiner or third parties for just a few hundred pounds.  That fee will usually include searches and the Intellectual Property Office's fees.

The saving if you attempt to apply by yourself is only a few hundred pounds,  If you receive an objection from the examiner or a third party you would lose that cost-saving in a few rounds of correspondence and considerably more still if there were to be a hearing.  The key to a successful application is a thorough search and I gave a presentation on searches last November (see IP Database Searches and Understanding Specifications  30 Nov 2020 NIPC Wales).  You will find a lot of information on the IPO, CTTMA and my NIPC Branding and you can always contact me for a pro bono chat if you get stuck.

I can be contacted on 020 7404 5252 during normal business hours or through my contact form at all other times.

Celebrating World IP Day at M-SParc: Basic Tips for Startups and other Small Businesses

M-SParc (Menai Science Park)

Author Jane Lambert
© 2018 Jane Lambert: all rights reserved

Jane Lambert

Last Friday I visited M-SParc (the Menai Science Park) to participate in Wales's celebrations of World Intellectual Property Day (see Happy World Intellectual Property Day 26 April 2019). I discovered M-SParc while I was on holiday in Beaumaris last summer and it is or at least should be a tourist attraction in its own right for its architecture and environmental engineering.  It also has an excellent eatery called Café Tanio which is open to the public as well as staff and tenants during office hours.  I had a delicious freshly cooked chicken curry, a slice of lemon and meringue pie and sparkling mineral from a local spring for just over £8.

M-SParc celebrated World IP Day with a lunchtime seminar on intellectual property in its boardroom at which I was one of three speakers.  The audience included several of the park's tenants and other local businesses, representatives of Welsh Water and Coleg Menai, M-SParc's managing director, Pryderi ap Rhisiart and one of his colleagues.  The other speakers were Huw Watkins of BiC Innovation and Steve Livingston of IP Tax Solutions.  Both speakers, who are experts in their respective fields with national practices and international reputations, are based at M-SParc.  That speaks volumes about the quality of the professional services that are available to businesses in the science park as well as the rest of North Wales. London and the rest of the UK come to Huw and Steve and not the other way round.

My presentation was a short introduction to IP and I have posted my slides and handout to Slideshare in case anyone who missed my talk would like to read them. Huw spoke about the services that his company offers and Steve discussed the tax incentives that are available for innovation in technology and creativity in the arts.  After the talks, I held four pro bono consultations with members of the audience that consumed the rest of the afternoon.  I was one of the last to leave the park just after 17:00.

I can't identify the businesses or mention the topics that I discussed for reasons of professional confidentiality but I think I can give two tips to businesses in Wales and elsewhere on the basis of my visits to the Anglesey Business Festival in October, Ty Menai in January (see IP for the Welsh Food and Packaging Industries 30 Jan 2019 NIPC News), Pitch Perfect (see A Good Way to spend St David's Day 2 March 2019 NIPC News), Aberystwyth University and the Beacon Enterprise Centre in Llanelli for Business Wales (see Intellectual Property for Startups and other Small Businesses 26 March 2019) in March and M-SParc last Friday.

The first tip is that every business with customers has goodwill which is likely to be connected with its name, the names of one or more of its products or services, a logo, a combination of name or logo or some other sign.  It is in the interests of the business and indeed its customers that that sign is associated with that business and none other.  Sometimes unscrupulous competitors try to muscle in on a market by presenting their goods or services under the same or similar sign.  Other times a competitor can adopt the same or similar sign quite innocently. Either way, it can result in lost sales and damaged goodwill.

Registering a trade mark need not break the bank.   The basic office costs of an online application for a UK mark are £170 although I would strongly recommend obtaining a search before making an application  I would also advise businesses to instruct a chartered trade mark attorney to do the search, draw up the specification, correspond with the Registry and any objectors who many appear and obtain the grant  s (see Whom you gonna call? IP Professionals and what they do 2 April 2019).  Having said that, plenty of businesses have registered marks without using an attorney.  An attorney will charge a few hundred pounds on top of the search and filing fees for his or her trouble but that is one hell of a lot cheaper than the cost of an opposition.  Ideally, I would also pay for a watch service and take out IP insurance against the costs of enforcement.

The second tip is to ensure that website terms and conditions pass muster. Every website should have at least two sets of terms, namely website access terms and a privacy statement.  The website access terms are essentially an end-user software licence.  A website consists of code which has to be reproduced in order to appear in a browser.  Such reproduction requires permission and that can be subject to conditions. These could include restrictions on copying materials on the site or specifying that the terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales and that any disputes will be referred to courts in those countries.  The privacy statement must contain the information that should have been registered with the Information Commissioner. If cookies are used,  visitors must be made aware of that.  Any special or unusual use of data extracted from visitors to the site should also appear in the privacy statement.   If the site is to be used for e-commerce it must comply with The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 at the very least.   I published Basic Law for Web Designers: No. 2: Website Terms and Conditions in JD Supra on 27 Aug 2011 and although that article may be getting a little long in the tooth it is still good law.

Everybody who attended the seminar on Friday regarded it as a foundation upon which we can build.  The next step may be to arrange for a patent librarian to show how to carry out patent, design and trade mark searches, a specialist broker to talk about IP insurance or a chartered patent agent to run a clinic.  In the meantime, if anyone has a problem with a third party or an examiner, needs something drafted for a business transaction or some advice on IP law, he or she should give me a call on 020 7404 5252 or send me a message through my contact form.  If it is straightforward and I know the answer I shall tell you for free. If it requires some work I will warn you and we can agree a specification of work and a fee or charging basis.  Any fee I may charge will be reasonable and properly negotiated in advance. There will be no nasty surprises.

Further Reading

2 Apr 2022 Diwrnod Eiddo Deallusol y Byd / World Intellectual Property Day

26 Apr 2019 Jane Lambert  Happy World Intellectual Property Day

10 Apr 2019  Jane Lambert Anglesey to celebrate World Intellectual Property Day