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Intellectual Property UK
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March 24, 2025
Spacecraft Propulsion Tech Isn't Patentable, Judge Rules
A London judge has refused to order the grant of a patent over a purported way of propelling spacecraft using magnets, upholding an earlier decision that the tech has no industrial application because it breaches the laws of physics.
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March 21, 2025
UK Licensing Group Allows AI Use Of Copyrighted Content
The Copyright Licensing Agency will allow both private and public customers to use its members' material to prompt AI models — though not to train them.
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March 21, 2025
Shein Added To E-Commerce IP Enforcement List
The U.K.'s Intellectual Property Office has updated guidance for rightsholders looking to crack down on copycat products listed on Chinese e-commerce giant Shein.
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March 21, 2025
Bose Headphone Patent Appeal Falls Flat At EPO
Bose Corp. left a European patent office appeal board empty-handed after its attempt to overturn a decision scrapping its headphones patent, with officials echoing the lower board's finding that the design lacked originality.
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March 21, 2025
Huawei Gets 2nd Shot At Patenting Data Migration Tech
European appellate officials have given Huawei a second chance at securing a patent for transferring data between devices, ruling that previous examiners had blindsided the Chinese firm by relying on new evidence in their final decision.
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March 21, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen a sub-postmaster sue the Post Office and Fujitsu, Russian insurer Ingosstrakh hit the Financial Times with a defamation claim, and Britvic-owned Robinsons Soft Drinks file a passing off claim against Aldi. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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March 20, 2025
Dutch Bioscience Giant Loses 2 Infant Formula Patents
A London court on Thursday rejected the bulk of Dutch bioscience giant DSM's claim that its rivals infringed its microbial oil patents in the U.K., ruling that two of its patents over the infant formula ingredient are invalid.
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March 20, 2025
Mercedes-Benz's Bid For SUV Silhouette TM Derails In EU
A European court has rejected Mercedes-Benz Group's appeal to overturn a decision scrapping its bid for a trademark showing an off-road vehicle driving uphill, finding that the image was too run-of-the-mill to justify trademark protection.
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March 20, 2025
Thyssenkrupp Wins 2nd Shot To Patent Phoned Elevator Unit
European officials have given Thyssenkrupp's elevator unit a second shot at securing a patent for a method of operating an elevator using a phone, rejecting a challenge from rival Otis Elevator.
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March 20, 2025
PE Firm Says Ex-Exec Stole Data, Poached Staff And Clients
A mining private equity firm has sued a former vice president for £140,000 ($181,000) in a London court, alleging that the executive stole confidential documents, and tried to take the company's business and poach its staff after he left the company.
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March 20, 2025
Zaha Hadid Can't Renew Bid To Exit IP Licensing Deal
Zaha Hadid's architectural firm cannot revive its bid to escape a deal signed before her death in 2016 that gave the practice a license to use her trademarks, as a judge ruled Thursday that it had no prospect of succeeding.
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March 19, 2025
BMW Can't Put Brakes On Toyota's Car Panel Patent In Europe
Toyota has steered clear of BMW's attempt to revoke its European patent over a car panel that helps withstand the impact of a crash, convincing an appeals panel in a ruling released Wednesday that the design is both new and inventive.
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March 19, 2025
Oatly Heads To UK's Top Court With Battle Over 'Post Milk' TM
The U.K.'s top court will weigh in on whether oat drink maker Oatly AB should be barred from registering the trademark "Post Milk Generation" under retained European Union law that restricts certain uses of the word "milk" to dairy products.
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March 19, 2025
Medtronic, Abbott Block Boston Scientific Heart Valve IP
European officials have nixed a Boston Scientific patent for a stent to replace diseased heart valves, ruling that it was unclear how its frame was meant to maintain an elliptical shape when some valve openings have different shapes.
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March 19, 2025
Patent Court Bats Away Roku's Challenge To Its Legal Footing
The Unified Patent Court has rebuffed Roku's attempt to dodge two infringement claims from Dolby and a patent trust by taking aim at the rules underpinning the court's jurisdiction.
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March 19, 2025
Huawei Loses Bid To Move MediaTek Patent Dispute To China
A London court has refused to pause a patent dispute between Huawei and MediaTek, ruling that parallel proceedings in China were too narrow to justify pausing MediaTek's bid for a global license.
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March 19, 2025
Energy Co. Accuses Ex-Lead Of Taking Secrets To Rival Outfit
An energy tech company has sued a former senior employee in a London court for breaching his contract, alleging he took confidential information about its software to help build a rival product at a competitor.
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March 18, 2025
ApeCoin Biz's Trademark Pared Back In Battle With Retailer
European officials have blocked a company connected to the Bored Ape NFT from registering a trademark for certain uses of "Ape Coin," ruling that Italian fashion retailer Coin had shown it had already cornered large markets.
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March 18, 2025
Umbro Says TM Fights Should Factor In Confusion After Sale
The owners of the Umbro trademark told the U.K.'s top court Tuesday that judges should take into account real world situations when determining if one brand can be confused for another, closing a high-profile appeal on how far trademark protections stretch.
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March 18, 2025
MSD Challenges Finding It Broke Ban On Using 'Merck' In UK
Pharmaceuticals giant Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC urged an appeals court Tuesday to overturn a declaration that it breached the terms of a 2020 injunction prohibiting it from using the word "Merck" to target U.K. consumers, arguing that the declaration was improperly used instead of contempt proceedings.
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March 18, 2025
AstraZeneca Unit Fights Amgen, Samsung Over Soliris Patent
An AstraZeneca subsidiary sought on Tuesday to prevent Amgen and Samsung Bioepis from selling drugs similar to its Soliris product, claiming at a London court that the two companies' drugs infringe a patent it owns over its blockbuster antibody eculizumab.
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March 18, 2025
Google Fails To Get Trademark Over Peace Sign In EU
European Union officials have rebuffed Google's attempt to get a trademark over an image of a hand showing a peace sign, ruling that the logo isn't distinctive enough.
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March 17, 2025
Shoemaker Urges Justices To Ax 'Absurd' TM Confusion Test
A French footwear company urged the U.K. Supreme Court on Monday to upend a ruling that it infringed Umbro's famous "double diamond" trademark, arguing that the decision provides "no workable limit" on situations where consumers' brand confusion after the point of sale could be a problem.
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March 17, 2025
Chevron Phillips Wins Appeal For Polymer-Making Patent
European officials have regranted Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. rights over a patent for making polymers that are then processed into industrial plastics, ruling that a seventh request to edit its claims had finally made its method worthy of protection.
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March 17, 2025
Brand Management Biz Can't Register 'Tech One' TM
U.K. trademark officials have tossed a Brazilian brand management company's bid to register its trademark "Tech One" for anti-theft alarms and heaters after finding that it clashed with a Finnish decorating supply store's 'Tec 1' trademark.
Expert Analysis
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9 Ways To Prepare Your IP Rights For Brexit
Those with a European intellectual property portfolio should be considering how Brexit — scheduled for March 29 — will affect EU trademarks and registered community designs, says Paula Jill Krasny of Levenfeld Pearlstein LLC.
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'Biosimilar V. Biosimilar' Patent Case May Be First Of Many
While the idea of patent disputes between makers of follow-on drugs is nothing new, the complaint recently filed by Coherus against Amgen in Delaware federal court is unique in that it pits one biosimilar developer against another, say attorneys with Goodwin Procter LLP.
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UK Patent Law: Hot Topics Of 2018 And What's Ahead
English courts have been active in the past year, grappling with patent topics like plausibility and equivalents, and 2019 promises to be another exciting year as English patent lawyers await developments on obviousness, insufficiency and employee inventor compensation, says Jin Ooi of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
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Coordinating Patent Strategies Across PTAB And EPO
The positions, arguments and prior art raised in U.S. post-grant proceedings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board may influence European Patent Office oppositions involving counterpart cases. Understanding the procedural similarities and differences between the two jurisdictions is key, says Drew Schulte of Haley Guiliano LLP.
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New EU Patent Guidelines May Affect Companies' AI Strategy
As compared to the European Patent Office’s guidelines for artificial intelligence and machine learning — which take effect on Thursday — the U.S. eligibility framework may prove to be more favorable to innovators, say Jennifer Maisel and Eric Blatt of Rothwell Figg Ernst & Manbeck PC.
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Intellectual Property Caught In US-China Trade Crossfire
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese products as a response to China’s trade practices concerning technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation. The U.S.-Chinese trade war highlights the need to approach investments in China differently, taking a broad view of intellectual assets and looking beyond basic legal protection, says Holly White, a consultant at Rouse & Co.
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Patent Eligibility Assessments: US Approach Vs. UK Approach
Techniques used to address questions of obviousness in the U.K. may prove useful to practitioners addressing questions of patent eligibility in the U.S., say Christopher Carroll and Charles Larsen of White & Case LLP.
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Surveying The CRISPR Patent War
Following this week’s oral argument at the Federal Circuit in University of California v. Broad Institute, there has been a surge of interest in the long-running CRISPR patent dispute. There are battles raging on multiple fronts, particularly in Europe, with several more on deck in the U.S., and maybe even in China, says Michael Stramiello of Paul Hastings LLP.
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UK Patent Ruling Sharpens Contrast With US Practice
The U.K. Court of Appeal's decision last month in Regeneron v. Kymab is significant because it aligns the U.K.’s approach to the assessment of insufficiency with that of the European Patent Office. It also highlights, for U.S. companies, the stricter standard to which patent specifications are subject in Europe, say Edward Kelly and Regina Sam Penti of Ropes & Gray LLP.
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IP Considerations For UK Open Banking App Developers
Since January of this year, consumer-facing banks in the U.K. have been required to make customers' banking data available to authorized third parties in a standardized format. As competition between open banking app developers increases, intellectual property rights will become a key legal tool, say Rajvinder Jagdev and Peter Damerell of Powell Gilbert LLP.
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The Case For Early Mediation Or Arbitration In IP Disputes
Alternative dispute resolution is one of the best ways to resolve disputes involving patents, copyright, trademark, trade secrets and other intellectual property issues. While not every situation lends itself to ADR, it is more accessible than many parties assume, says Jerry Cohen of Burns & Levinson LLP.
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International Arbitration In 2018: A Year Of Rule Revisions
Though still in its relative infancy, 2018 is shaping up to be a year of arbitral institution rule updates. Neil Newing and Ryan Cable of Signature Litigation LLP explore some of the more innovative and trending rule changes expected or predicted this year.
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A Look At Chemical Supplemental Examination Requests
If used strategically, supplemental examination at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can provide a powerful tool for chemical patent owners to add to their armamentarium of options for Orange Book-listed patents when conducting a due diligence analysis of their patent estate prior to Orange Book listing, say attorneys with Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP.
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Cloud-Based Patent Claims — And How Providers Can Help
Cloud customers may be exposed to liability for open source technologies that are buried deep within their providers’ offerings. In-house legal teams and developers need to be aware of the risk of patent litigation and the extent to which cloud providers can help mitigate these risks, says R. Paul Zeineddin of Zeineddin PLLC.
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Comparing EU And US Standard-Essential Patent Guidance
The European Commission's long-awaited guidance on litigating and licensing standard-essential patents clarifies what conduct may insulate an SEP owner from abuse claims under competition law, in sharp contrast to the U.S., where the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice have declined to adopt any views on the subject, say Edward Kelly and Regina Sam Penti of Ropes & Gray LLP.