Expert Analysis

• Examining The EU Sanctions Directive Approach To Breaches

  

  In criminalizing sanctions violations and harmonizing the rules on breaches, a new European Union directive will bring significant change and likely increase enforcement risks across the EU, say lawyers at Hogan Lovells.

• Trends, Tips From 7 Years Of EPO Antibody Patent Appeals

  

  Recent years of European Patent Office decisions reveal some surprising differences between appeals involving therapeutic antibody patents and those for other technologies, offering useful insight into this developing area of European case law for future antibody patent applicants, say Alex Epstein and Jane Evenson at CMS.

• 4 Takeaways From Biotech Patent Invalidity Ruling

  

  The recent Patents Court decision in litigation between Advanced Cell Diagnostics and Molecular Instruments offers noteworthy commentary on issues related to experiments done in the ordinary course of business, joint importation, common general knowledge and mindset, and mosaicking for anticipation, say Nessa Khandaker and Darren Jiron at Finnegan.

• Why Reperforming Loan Securitization In UK And EU May Rise

  

  The recently published new U.K. securitization rules will largely bring the U.K.’s nonperforming loan regime in line with the European Union, and together with the success of EU and U.K. banks in reducing loan ratios, reperforming securitizations may feature more prominently in relevant markets going forward, say lawyers at Morgan Lewis.

• What French Watchdog Ruling Means For M&A Landscape

  

  Although ultimately dismissed due to lack of evidence, the French competition authority’s recent post-closing review of several nonreportable mergers is a landmark case that highlights the increased complexity of such transactions, and is further testament to the European competition authorities’ willingness to expand their toolkit to address below-threshold M&As, say lawyers at Cleary.

• How Life Science Companies Are Approaching UPC Opt-Outs

  

  A look at recent data shows that one year after its launch, the European Union's Unified Patent Court is still seeing a high rate of opt-outs, including from large U.S.-based life science companies wary of this unpredictable court — and there are reasons this strategy should largely remain the same, say Sanjay Murthy and Christopher Tuinenga at McAndrews Held.

• New Directors' Code Of Conduct May Serve As Useful Guide

  

  Although the Institute of Directors’ current proposal for a voluntary code of conduct is strongly supported by its members, it must be balanced against the statutory requirement for directors to promote their company’s success, and the risk of claims by shareholders if their decisions are influenced by wider social considerations, says Matthew Watson at RPC.

• Lego Ruling Builds Understanding Of Design Exam Process

  

  In Lego v. Guangdong Loongon, the European Union Intellectual Property Office recently invalidated a registered design for a toy figure, offering an illustrative guide to assessing the individual character of a design in relation to a preexisting design, says Christoph Moeller at Mewburn Ellis.

• Contractual Drafting Takeaways From Force Majeure Ruling

  

  Lawyers at Cleary discuss the U.K. Supreme Court's recent judgment RTI v. MUR Shipping and its important implications, including how the court approached the apparent tension between certainty and commercial pragmatism, and considerations for the drafting of force majeure clauses going forward.

• Behind The Stagecoach Boundary Fare Dispute Settlement

  

  The Competition Appeal Tribunal's recent rail network boundary fare settlement offers group action practitioners some much-needed guidance as it reduces the number of remaining parties' five-year dispute from two to one, says Mohsin Patel at Factor Risk Management.

• The Unified Patent Court: What We Learned In Year 1

  

  ​​​​​​​The Unified Patent Court celebrated its first anniversary this month, and while questions remain as we wait for the first decisions on the merits, a multitude of decisions and orders regarding provisional measures and procedural aspects have provided valuable insights already, says Antje Brambrink at Finnegan.

• Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Spanish Judicial Oversight

  

  The recent conviction of arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa underscores the critical importance of judicial authority in the realm of international arbitration in Spain, and emphasizes that arbitrators must respect the procedural frameworks established by Spanish national courts, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray’s Inn.

• F1 Driver AI Case Sheds Light On Winning Tactics In IP Suits

  

  A German court recently awarded damages to former F1 driver Michael Schumacher's family in an artificial intelligence dispute over the unlicensed use of his image, illustrating how athletes are using the law to protect their brands, and setting a precedent in other AI-generated image rights cases, William Bowyer at Lawrence Stephens.

• High Court Ruling Sheds Light On Targets For Judicial Review

  

  The High Court's recent dismissal of iDealing.com's judicial review application for service complaint decisions by the Financial Ombudsman Service highlights the difficulty of distinguishing what decisions are amenable to judicial review, demonstrating that those made by statutory bodies may not always be genuine targets, say Alexander Fawke, Tara Janus and Bam Thomas at Linklaters.

• Appeal Ruling Clarifies 3rd-Party Contract Breach Liability

  

  The Court of Appeal's recent decision in Northamber v. Genee World serves as a warning to parties that they may be held liable for inducing another party to breach a contract, even if that party was a willing participant, say Neil Blake, Maura McIntosh and Jennifer O'Brien at HSL.