News

Counting your chickens before they hatch? Protecting innovation in the egg industry

Eggs are serious business, with 12.6 billion eaten each year in the UK (or 188 per capita), and meeting this demand requires the efforts of over 39 million commercial hens.

What’s brewing in the field of fermentation?

As you’re participating in the Food & Bio Summit, you will have a serious interest in the biotechnical aspects of the food and drink industry.

How do certain brands get away with lookalike products?

In a recent decision from the EUIPO Board of Appeal, it was found that the there was a confusing similarity between the JÄGERMEISTER and ST. JOSEPH (as shown below) trade marks despite their aurally dissimilar word elements and conceptually dissimilar figurative elements. This has again opened up an age old debate, how do certain brands get away with lookalike products?

Don’t risk losing your cloned UK trade marks

Have you checked to make sure you have a UK representative appointed for your UK cloned trade mark registrations?

UPC revocation actions offer an attractive patent strategy

The Unified Patent Court, or UPC, undoubtedly represents the biggest shake up to the European patent system in modern history.

IP in software: Software for the entertainment and communication industry

Today, with hardware performance improving and cost falling, more and more entertainment services are moving online or becoming more accessible.

Proposed changes to pharmaceutical regulatory exclusivities in Europe

In April this year, the European Commission submitted its proposals for revisions to the EU’s pharmaceutical legislation governing the authorisation of medicinal products.

What are the IP ownership options?

When it comes to intellectual property (IP) ownership, a business has several options. Choosing the best option will depend on the nature of the IP, your commercial objectives and the associated legal obligations. However - generally speaking - the IP ownership options open to you will include:

Can we fix it? Copyright fixation in Wright v BTC Core

Court of Appeal overturned the High Court's finding that the claimants had no real prospect of establishing copyright in the Bitcoin File Format because it had not been “recorded, in writing or otherwise”. This is one of the rare cases about the requirement of copyright fixation, which demonstrates how the English courts apply the existing, 35-year-old, copyright law to new technologies.

X (trade) marks the spot

You will have done well to miss the news that Twitter has shed its old skin and emerged from the social media cocoon with a new identity as "X".

Commercial innovation in connecting BESS to the grid

Innovation in the world of battery tech typically involves the materials and structures that form the cells. New and efficient ways to manufacture cells and, more recently, equipment and methods for recycling are areas where patent filings are common.

Patent claim considerations for photovoltaic inventions

We look at the various forms of patent claim available for PV inventions and provide tips for seeking patent protection.

The SCI launches its manifesto for an Industrial Science & Innovation Strategy

The Society of Chemical Industries (SCI) has just launched its manifesto for an Industrial Science & Innovation Strategy.

IP primer for scientist-founders

Confession time! When I first started this job I had very little knowledge about intellectual property (IP) and patents. Despite spending 15 years of my life in academia, pursuing degrees, a PhD, and postdoctoral research in the field of 'proper' science, IP was never on my radar. Commercialisation was never a topic for discussion. Shockingly, IP was never given significance.

AI-generated music and copyright conundrums

Google and Universal Music are, according to the Financial Times, in negotiations which may lead to the development of a platform whose users can create AI-generated music under licence, allowing them to utilise the voices and (for want of a better term) "style" of Universal artists.

UKIPO publishes summary of responses to SEPs questionnaire for SMEs