Intellectual Property UK

  • July 09, 2025

    Toy Maker Fails To Revive Rubik's Cube TM At EU Court

    A European Union court on Wednesday rejected a toy company's attempt to rekindle its 3D Rubik's Cube trademark on the grounds that its shape is entirely functional.

  • July 09, 2025

    Sony Can Alter Defense In Hendrix Band Copyright Case

    The U.K. arm of Sony won permission to alter its defense against a claim brought by the estates of Jimi Hendrix's former bandmates in a copyright feud over the group's back catalog, after a London judge dismissed the estates' objections on Wednesday.

  • July 09, 2025

    Car Brake Maker Accuses Rival Of Copying Design

    A manufacturer of suspension and brake systems for cars has sued a rival in a London court for patent infringement, saying its brake calipers were disassembled and re-engineered with new components.

  • July 09, 2025

    Honor Blocks AI Co.'s 'BookMagicAI' TM For Software In UK

    Chinese electronics company Honor Device Co. has convinced British officials to partially block an AI writing platform's application for the trademark "bookmagicai," finding that the name might confuse consumers interested in its products.

  • July 09, 2025

    Auto Giants Get Tentative Antitrust OK For IP Licensing Org

    The European Union's executive arm told German auto giants BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen Wednesday that their new licensing group will comply with the bloc's antitrust regime as long as they let standard essential patent holders opt out of talks, among other conditions.

  • July 09, 2025

    Target Misses Bull's-Eye TM Bid At EU Court

    U.S. retail giant Target lost a trademark over its red bull's-eye logo on Wednesday after a European Union court ruled that the mark was too banal to be protected as it displayed only simple geometric shapes.

  • July 09, 2025

    Zurich Loses Appeal For Software Patent At EPO

    Zurich Insurance has lost its latest attempt to secure a patent over its software that helps multiple users work on a project, failing to convince a European appeals board that the technology is inventive.

  • July 08, 2025

    DreamWorks Loses Chunk Of 'Trolls' TM In UK

    DreamWorks has lost a significant portion of its "Trolls" U.K. trademarks after an online casino company convinced trademark officials that the marks had not been used in five years.

  • July 08, 2025

    Drugmaker Wants £46M For MSD's Use Of 'Merck' In UK

    German drugmaker Merck KGaA asked a London court Tuesday to force U.S.-based Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC to pay £46 million ($62 million) for breaching an order by using the "Merck" name in the U.K.

  • July 08, 2025

    Spanish Firm Nixes 'LegalFly' AI Tech Trademark

    A Spanish law firm has convinced European officials to nix a trademark registered by a company using artificial intelligence to review and draft documents, ruling that lawyers would mix up the similar-looking signs.

  • July 08, 2025

    LG Can Patent Rollable Screen On Appeal

    LG has won its bid to patent a rollable screen that prevents "ghost images" from permanently forming on users' devices, after convincing European officials that its technology incorporated new features.

  • July 08, 2025

    Furniture Biz Wins High Chair Copyright Clash In Dutch Court

    A Dutch court has restricted a German company's ability to market its adjustable high chair in the European Union, ruling that it infringes a Norwegian rival's rights over a "Tripp Trapp" chair design that has existed for 50 years.

  • July 07, 2025

    Amazon, Netflix Win Video Tech Patent Fight At EPO

    A European appeals panel has upheld Amazon and Netflix's successful challenge against a tech company's video playback patent, ruling in a decision published Monday that the patent is invalid.

  • July 07, 2025

    Huawei Loses 2nd Bid To Move Patent Dispute To China

    Huawei couldn't convince a London judge to let a Chinese court handle its patent license dispute with MediaTek for a second time, as nothing had changed since its last request in December.

  • July 07, 2025

    IBM Rival Can't Appeal Reverse-Engineering Defeat

    A London appeals court has blocked a tech company's "kitchen sink" appeal against a ruling that it unlawfully reverse engineered IBM's software to help develop a competing product.

  • July 07, 2025

    IP Software Manager Wins £77K After Botched Transfer

    A tribunal has ruled that a software company specializing in intellectual property portfolios must compensate a London-based employee more than £77,000 ($105,000), ruling that the business had failed to offer an explanation for why she was sacked.

  • July 07, 2025

    Boehringer Can't Get SPC For Horse Inhaler 

    British officials rejected Boehringer Ingelheim's bid to get a supplementary protection certificate for a treatment for horse asthma because the company had already protected the active ingredient when it introduced inhalers for human use. 

  • July 04, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    The past week in London has seen the owner of Crystal Palace and the troubled Olympique Lyonnais football clubs sue its current chief executive John Textor, Fieldfisher faces a claim by Georgian businessman Zaza Okusahvili, and a dispute partner at Travers Smith file a personal injury claim against the firm.

  • July 04, 2025

    Nvidia Can't Get UK Patent Over Neural Gaming Tech

    U.K. officials have rejected Nvidia's attempt to secure a patent over its neural network gaming system, ruling that the technology cannot be patented because it is solely for a computer program.

  • July 04, 2025

    Drone Operator Sues BAE Unit Over Patented UAV Design

    A drone designer has accused a subsidiary of BAE Systems of infringing one of its patents by selling heavy-lift unmanned aerial vehicles used by the British military that are easily disassembled for transportation. 

  • July 04, 2025

    Abbott Can't Nix Edwards Lifesciences Heart Valve Patent

    European officials have granted Edwards Lifesciences' a patent over a heart stent valve on its fifth try, ruling that the choice of having all components mounted within rather than above the structural base was new.  

  • July 04, 2025

    Candy Biz Fails To Void Rival's 'Sour King' EU Trademark

    The business behind Brain Blasterz candy has lost its latest attempt to quash a Polish company's Sour King trademark, failing to convince a European Union appeals panel that shoppers would mix up the two brands.

  • July 04, 2025

    Dolby-Owned Video Coding Patent Not Inventive, EPO Says

    A European appeals board has upheld a decision to revoke a video-streaming patent owned by Dolby, ruling that the technology is not inventive beyond a report from a meeting in Italy in 2011.

  • July 03, 2025

    EPO Top Board Draws Fresh Lines For Prior Art

    The European Patent Office's top authority ruled Wednesday that products placed on the market before a patent is filed cannot be excluded from being considered "prior art" purely because an expert could not reproduce the product at the time.

  • July 03, 2025

    3M Loses 2nd Bid To Patent Structural Adhesive Design 

    European appellate officials have rejected a bid from 3M bid to patent a strong adhesive for metal parts, ruling that examiners had not considered new evidence without informing the U.S. conglomerate beforehand. 

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At M&S' Registered Design Claim Win Against Aldi

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    Adding to the long line of cases seeking to restrain Aldi's attempts to mimic market-leading products, Marks & Spencer's recent success in the U.K. High Court based on registered designs demonstrates that supermarket copycat products may no longer be able to sail so close to the wind, says Alex Borthwick at Powell Gilbert.

  • UK Teva Ruling Brings Patent Remedy Into Question

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    Arrow declarations have been considered an extremely effective tool for patent litigators, but following the recent U.K. Court of Appeal decision in Teva v. Novartis it appears that courts are looking to take a more conservative view, say David Holt and Tony Proctor at Potter Clarkson.

  • How CJEU Case Shifts TM Liability For Platforms Like Amazon

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    The EU Court of Justice's recent ruling on Amazon's liability for trademark infringement in relation to fake Christian Louboutin shoes advertised by third parties on its website may leave web platforms that sell third-party vendors' products alongside their own brands more vulnerable to infringement claims, say Louisa Chambers and Helen Reddish at Travers Smith.

  • Europe's New Unitary Patent System Will Affect IP Agreements

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    Marco Stief at Maiwald discusses key points in intellectual property agreements that legal practitioners will need to consider in Europe's soon-to-open centralized patent court, including regional exclusivity in different contracting member states.

  • EU Medicine Reboxing Ruling Gives Guidance To Pharma Cos.

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    The recent landmark decision of the Court of Justice of the EU in Novartis Pharma on repackaging medicines has provided pharma companies with a much-needed framework, with better protections for trademarks and clearer protocols for handling imported products, say Ulf Grundmann and Elisabeth Kohoutek at King & Spalding.

  • A Look Ahead At Key UK Intellectual Property Cases

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    Anticipated 2023 U.K. intellectual property decisions include robotics, artificial intelligence, and clean energy matters that have also been heard in the U.S., while other areas to watch include global fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory issues, as well as COVID-19 patent litigation, say Tom Oliver and Claire Robinson at Powell Gilbert.

  • Lessons That May Be Learned From The Demise Of Made.com

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    With Made.com going into administration, companies that may face similar challenges should take on board that the earlier adequate preemptive planning is considered, the more financial and legal options there will be to avoid last minute firefighting and to focus instead on strengthening the business, says Eleni Michaela at Faegre Drinker.

  • Teva Case Aims Europe's Pharma Crackdown At IP Loophole

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    The European Commission's recent allegations against Teva signal not only the EU competition watchdog's continued focus on intellectual property violations in the pharmaceutical sector but also its new enforcement interest in exclusionary disparagement, say Robert Bell and Malgorzata Janiec at Armstrong Teasdale.

  • Determining Whether To Opt Out Of New Unified Patent Court

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    The new United Patent Court, made up of judges from all European Union member states, will cover the new unitary patent and European patents unless the owner chooses to opt out during the transition period, so patent proprietors must consider whether to opt out for each patent family, say Steffen Steininger and Anna-Katharina Friese-Okoro at Hogan Lovells.

  • 10 Things To Know About The Coming EU Unified Patent Court

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    When the Unified Patent Court opens next year, it will represent a paradigm shift for adversarial patent proceedings in Europe, and practitioners should familiarize themselves now with this new, centralized litigation system, say Fabian Koenigbauer at Ice Miller and Thomas Kronberger at Grünecker.

  • 7 Key Takeaways For Litigating Willful Patent Infringement

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    Brian Nolan and Manuel Velez at Mayer Brown explore the impact of the Federal Circuit's 2021 SRI International v. Cisco Systems decision, and six other areas recent parties have focused on when litigating willful infringement in the latest case law.

  • Trademark Ruling Brings Clarity To Product Defect Liability

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    The recent Court of Justice of the EU ruling in Fennia v. Philips, its first concerning the trademark aspect of producer liability in Article 3(1) of Directive 85/374, brings greater clarity to the question of compensation in the event of a claim for defective products, say Radboud Ribbert and Thomas van Weeren at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Appointments Shape EU Unified Patent Court Before Launch

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    A series of judiciary appointments at the EU Unified Patent Court help put the court on track for its April opening, while also reflecting a patent-friendly enforcement system, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • 5 Considerations In Preparing For EU's New Patent System

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    With the upcoming implementation of the unitary patent and Unified Patent Court, Europe gets closer to its long-term goal of one EU patent that can be enforced in one court, and non-EU patent owners and applicants will have strategic decisions to make, say Fabian Koenigbauer at Ice Miller and Thomas Kronberger at Grünecker.

  • Reexamining Negative Limitations After Novartis Patent Ruling

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    The Federal Circuit's decision and denial of rehearing in Novartis v. Accord has created exacting standards that must be met in order for negative limitations in patent claims to satisfy the written description requirement, but whether the dissent is correct that the majority opinion heightened the standard is an arguable point, say Jonathan Fitzgerald and Jaime Choi at Snell & Wilmer.

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