Expert Analysis

• 2024 Will Be A Busy Year For Generative AI And IP Issues

  

  In light of increased litigation and policy proposals on balancing intellectual property rights and artificial intelligence innovation, 2024 is shaping up to be full of fast-moving developments that will have significant implications for AI tool developers, users of such tools and rights holders, say lawyers at Mishcon de Reya.

• The Most-Read Law360 UK Guest Articles Of 2023

  

  Benefits of the new EU Unified Patent Court, artificial intelligence regulation and M&A trends amid rising inflation were among the hot topics U.K. Expert Analysis articles explored this year.

• 9 Takeaways From The UPC's First 6 Months In Session

  

  Six months after its opening, the Unified Patent Court has established itself as an appealing jurisdiction, with its far territorial reach, short filing deadlines and extremely quick issuance of preliminary injunctions showing that it is well-prepared to provide for rapid legal clarity, says Antje Brambrink at Finnegan.

• The Year In FRAND: What To Know Heading Into 2024

  

  In 2023, there were eight significant developments concerning the fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory patent licensing regime that undergirds technical standardization, say Tom Millikan and Kevin Zeck at Perkins Coie.

• How Int'l Student-Athlete Law Would Change The NIL Game

  

  Recently proposed legislation to allow international student-athletes the opportunity to profit from their name, image and likeness without violating their F-1 nonimmigrant student visa status represents a pivotal step in NIL policy, and universities must assess and adapt their approaches to accommodate unique immigration concerns, say attorneys at Phelps Dunbar.

• Series

  Children's Book Writing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

  

  Becoming a children's book author has opened doors to incredible new experiences of which I barely dared to dream, but the process has also changed my life by serving as a reminder that strong writing, networking and public speaking skills are hugely beneficial to a legal career, says Shaunna Bailey at Sheppard Mullin.

• How The PTAB Landscape Shifted In 2023

  

  Attorneys at Finnegan consider the impact of noteworthy Patent Trial and Appeal Board developments in 2023, including rulemaking, litigation, precedential decisions and director reviews that affected PTAB practice, and offer a reference for examining future proceedings and strategies.

• How 'Copyleft' Licenses May Affect Generative AI Output

  

  Open-source software and the copyleft licenses that support it, whereby derivative works must be made available for others to use and modify, have been a boon to the development of artificial intelligence, but could lead to issues for coders who use AI to help write code and may find their resulting work exposed, says William Dearn at HLK.

• UPC Decision Highlights Key Security Costs Questions

  

  While the Unified Patent Court recently ordered NanoString to pay €300,000 as security for Harvard's legal costs in a revocation action dispute, the decision highlights that the outcome of a security for costs application will be highly fact-dependent and that respondents should prepare to set out their financial position in detail, says Tom Brazier at EIP.

• IP Ruling Could Pave Way For AI Patents In UK

  

  If implemented by the U.K. Intellectual Property Office, the High Court's recent ruling in Emotional Perception AI v. Comptroller-General of Patents, holding that artificial neural networks can be patented, could be a first step to welcoming AI patents in the U.K., say Arnie Francis and Alexandra Brodie at Gowling.

• Why It's Urgent For Pharma Cos. To Halt Counterfeit Meds

  

  With over 10.5 million counterfeit medicines seized in the EU in 2023, it is vital both ethically and commercially that pharmaceutical companies take steps to protect against such infringements, including by invoking intellectual property rights protection, says Lars Karnøe at Potter Clarkson.

• Examining US And Europe Patent Disclosure For AI Inventions

  

  As applicants before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office increasingly seek patent protection for inventions relating to artificial intelligence, the applications may require more implementation details than traditional computer-implemented inventions, including disclosure of data and methods used to train the AI systems, say attorneys at Finnegan.

• Incontinence Drug Ruling Offers Key Patent Drafting Lessons

  

  In a long-awaited decision in Astellas v. Teva and Sandoz, an English court found that the patent for a drug used to treat overactive bladder syndrome had not been infringed, highlighting the interaction between patent drafting and litigation strategy, and why claim infringement is as important a consideration as validity, says George McCubbin at Herbert Smith.

• EPO Decision Significantly Relaxes Patent Priority Approach

  

  In a welcome development for patent applicants, a recent European Patent Office decision redefines the way that entitlement to priority is assessed, significantly relaxing the previous approach and making challenges to the right to priority in post-grant opposition proceedings far more difficult, say lawyers at Finnegan.

• Why US Should Help European Efforts To Fix SEP Licensing

  

  The European Commission's proposed reform of standard-essential patent licensing aims to fix a fundamental problem stemming from the asymmetry and obscurity of information about SEPs, and U.S. agencies exploring regulation of foreign regimes should support and improve these efforts, say David McAdams at Duke University and David Katz at WilmerHale.