News

When it comes to wireless and mobile communications, the MWC is the world’s important annual trade fair. The most cutting-edge companies, many of them competing with each other, show their new achievements in different fields that encompass virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, robotics, drones, etc.

This is a great opportunity for companies to come forward and connect with a valuable network of experts and investors relevant in the sector. However, it is not uncommon for conflicts to arise between companies that fear or discover that during the course of the event some of their technologies will be or have been copied.

This is why, the Commercial Courts of Barcelona will again apply, for the fourth consecutive year, the protocol of on-call duty and quick action against possible infringements of Industrial and Intellectual Property that occur from the beginning of February and throughout the Congress in order to ensure protection of holders (companies or individuals), victims of this type of violations, and which comprises: 

• Preferential and priority processing of urgent preliminary injunctions (for example, withdrawal of suspected infringing products), which concern patents or industrial designs and the presentation of which is foreseen at the MWC; as well as trademark and intellectual property infringements; defense of competition and acts of unfair competition and illegal advertising related to the products and materials that are displayed or exhibited at the fair.
• Commitment to resolve within two days from the request for preliminary injunctions, without a hearing of the defendant, from its entry into court; and a maximum of ten days for the resolution of the preliminary injunctions with indication of the hearing, from its entry into court, provided that a protective letter has been filed, arguing the reasons that would justify adoption of the same (the defendant’s previous conduct, speed of reaction after knowledge and, if sufficient time is available, bona fide at the time of request is assessed, such that it does not reasonably impede the defendant’s hearing).
• Resolving, on the same day of its filing, the admission of requests for protective letters in the framework of a possible conflict in industrial or intellectual property matters with another company and in the event of reasonable fear of being the object of a request for preliminary injunctions without a hearing. This will allow, first, being able to present pleadings and, second, availability to appear before the Court immediately in order to resolve any request for preliminary injunctions without a hearing.

In 2017, a total of 21 cases were admitted and resolved, including the filing of 12 patent protective letters (14 in 2016), processed and resolved before the beginning of the MWC, for well-known companies such as Samsung, Nokia, Ericsson, ZTE, etc., in addition to 7 preliminary injunctions (2 in 2016) against 8 different companies (4 requests were upheld and 3 were dismissed), and also 1 opposition to preliminary injunctions, which was processed and resolved in 24 hours, and upheld (establishing alternative security). 1,25 % of the participants in the Congress (25 companies) were implicated and the Commercial Court of Barcelona foresees that this year the trend will be consolidated, maintaining or increasing the cases submitted.

_______

If you want to know the latest Intellectual Property news happened in 2017 and what to expect in 2018, you cannot miss this Webinar organized by Clarke, Modet & Cº. You will be up to date about the key developments in Latin America and Europe in less than 50 minutes: