UK Trade Marks Act 1994 at 30 - Going Forward, Looking Backwards

Think back to 1994. A year when Nelson Mandela is sworn in as South Africa’s new president, a company called Amazon establishes an online marketplace for books, the first Eurostar train travels to France through the Channel Tunnel, the Sony PlayStation is launched, cinema-goers queue to watch The Lion King, Pulp Fiction and Four Weddings and a Funeral; D:Ream’s ‘Things can only get better’ tops the UK Singles Chart.
On 21 July of that year, the UK Trade Marks Act 1994 also received Royal assent, replacing the 1938 legislation. As the (then) new Act’s long title explains, its core rationale is ‘to make new provision for registered trade marks implementing Council Directive No. 89/104/EEC of 21st December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks’ and ‘in connection with Council Regulation (EC) No. 40/94 of 20th December 1993 on the Community trade mark’. The UK had been an active participant in discussions that led to the Directive and Regulation, appreciating the need for modernisation and seeing value in the increased efficiencies for business brought about by greater harmonisation with our nearest neighbours.
Fast forward to 2024, and in the UK, those harmonisation aims now seem to be disappearing in the rear-view mirror. This event marks the milestone of the 30th anniversary of the Trade Marks Act 1994. It will reflect on the UK’s interaction with the EU trade mark system and CJEU jurisprudence over the last 30 years, and consider how this is might, or perhaps should, continue to influence the development of UK trade mark law in the next 30 years.

The UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation Law has brought together a distinguished panel to evaluate UK trade mark law in retrospect and prospect.

Speakers:

• Professor Robert Burrell, University of Oxford
• Geoffrey Hobbs KC, One Essex Court
• Professor Annette Kur, Max Planck Institute
• Kelly Saliger, President of CITMA

Chair: Lord Justice Richard Arnold, Royal Courts of Justice.

17:30 Registration and theatre opens
18:00 Event begins
19:15 Q&A
19:30 Reception
This event will be held in-person but will also be live streamed.

For more information about CITMA, visit www.citma.org.uk.

Host or Publisher UCL Institute of Brand and Innovation Law (IBIL)