News
The latest insights, sector developments and case updates from Potter Clarkson. Explore up-to-date content from our experts and stay informed on the issues shaping the IP landscape.
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Innovation and IP considerations for cleantech companies
Innovation - and by extension IP - has never been more important for cleantech companies. According to the International Energy Agency, for every $1 spent on fossil fuels, $1.7 is now spent on clean energy. Five years ago this ratio was 1:1.
US supreme court sides with Jack Daniel’s in fight against the ‘Bad Spaniels’ dog toy
Yesterday a US Supreme Court panel unanimously decided to support Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey’s opposition to VIP Products’ ‘Bad Spaniels’ dog toy. They felt the product was an obvious parody of their brand.
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The 4th agricultural revolution: 5 technologies shaping the future of food and agritech
Recent advances in automation, machine learning, and cleantech have heralded the “4th industrial revolution”. This promises to not only rapidly change how we live and work, but also transform it beyond recognition.
Functional fashion: design implications for the timeless "cargo pants"
From the battlefield to “Y2K”, and now the S/S’23 runway, “cargo trousers”, or “cargo pants”, have been a British clothing staple for more than 80 years. Therefore, the hurdle to be able to rely on unregistered design rights to protect such designs in the UK is high in such a crowded field; designers must be able to rebut any claim that their designs are not sufficiently “original”. A UK judgment, handed down last week, highlights the need for designers to assess the merits of their case before asserting infringement of UK unregistered design right (UKUDR) before the UK Court.
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What are the trends shaping the alcoholic beverage market?
The tastes of food and drink consumers are continuing to change. People are more health conscious. They are looking for more sustainable options. At the same time, they want new, exciting and tasty new alternatives to enjoy. These demands are hitting the producers of alcoholic beverages as hard as any other part of the food and drink industry.
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Why is defining IP ownership important?
Defining intellectual property (IP) ownership is important because it establishes exactly who has the right to use, protect and exploit the relevant IP assets by:
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Are the new .zip and .mov gTLD extensions an opportunity or a threat?
In March Google announced that May 2023 would see the launch of eight new top-level domains, .Foo, .Zip, .Mov, .Nexus, .Dad, .Phd, .Prof and .Esq.
Maximising the value of your 3D printing innovations: Patents and trade secrets
3D printing is now a widespread technology that may have seemed as fanciful 100 years ago as Star Trek's replicators do to us now. We may be a long way off from synthesising matter from light to create food and other objects at will but even this fictitious invention was a development on earlier technologies (protein sequencers and food synthesisers).
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A match made in court: Dating app ‘Muzmatch’ loses appeal over Match Group
The Court of Appeal in Match Group LLC v Muzmatch Ltd has given useful guidance on the role of honest concurrent use in trade mark infringement cases.
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Lidl v Tesco: An own goal for Lidl?
The supermarket wars continued on Wednesday 19 April, with Mrs Justice J. Smith handing down her judgment in the High Court in favour of Lidl.
Invalidating patents
The Patent Offices around the world typically do a good job of examining patent applications so that only the ones that meet the requirements, including novelty and inventiveness, make it through to grant. However, this is not always the case.
IP in software: Can you patent software?
The simple answer is yes, you can patent software. However, there are strict rules to follow as to what software or software-related inventions can be patented.
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Data - the essential ingredient for driving innovation in food manufacturing
The increasing availability of data provides opportunities for better decision making in the food manufacturing industry, playing a key role in minimizing waste, supply chain costs and inefficiencies in the production process, as well as forming the basis behind many new products and technical advancements.
The other problem with tech transfer
There has been increasing discussion around problems with the transfer of technology from universities, and in particular with the spin-out process. The process is often very slow, with negotiations around terms such as the equity stake taken by the university sometimes causing investors to walk away, founders to get frustrated, and companies struggle to get off of the ground.
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Protecting investments in artificial intelligence for energy storage
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, in particular, machine learning is becoming a tool that is used in many technological fields. In the field of energy storage, the opportunities to apply AI and machine learning techniques are wide-ranging.
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Trade secrets - the forgotten IP right
Trade secrets are an important component of any company’s intellectual property assets. They may even be the crown jewels of their portfolio - they just may not know it. And even if they do know, sometimes an organisation’s internal processes are simply not robust enough to protect these valuable secrets.