Michael Bloch QC

IP and IT CV

Michael has advised and appeared in a series of substantial breach of confidence, copyright, design right, intellectual property licensing, passing off, patent and trademark court cases and arbitrations, including Numatic v Qualtex (the shape of the Henry vacuum cleaner), Specsavers v ASDA (the logo and a strapline), easyGroup v easyJet (a brand licence dispute), Aspinal v Kiki James (registered and unregistered designs), Odnoklassniki (copyright , confidence, employment and partnership claims relating to a social networking site), Star Wars (copyright in props and the justiciability of foreign intellectual property rights),  GSK v Abbott Laboratories (the interpretation & application of worldwide pharmaceutical patent licences) and several international arbitrations relating to pharmaceuticals and coating technology).

Other high profile cases in which Michael has acted include 19 Entertainment v Simon Cowell and others (the X Factor format copyright case), United Biscuits v ASD (the Penguin v Puffin case), Chocosuisse v Cadbury  (the Swiss Chalet chocolate case), Inter Digital Technology Corp v Nokia (UMTS patent dispute) and Oxford Gene Technology v Affymetri (the Southern Patents).

Michael has also advised and appeared in a series of intellectual property disputes in court and arbitration, including acting for Philip Morris against BAT in a dispute relating to a trade mark licence, acting for Mars against Nestle in a series of reported cases relating to the interpretation of the EU. Trade Mark Directive and related domestic law, including the Have a Break and Polo cases, acting for Bayer Cropscience in the administrative review and private chancery proceedings against DEFRA and Friends of the Earth relating to the regulatory regime in respect of pesticide licence application data packages, acting for Royal Mail in Data Base Right proceedings relating to the Post Office address file database and acting for PPG in Pilkington v PPG float glass arbitration.