Intellectual Property UK

  • April 28, 2026

    BAT Smokes Philip Morris' WiFi-Linked Vape IP On Appeal

    Philip Morris has lost a patent over an internet-enabled vape that requires online registration before use as European appellate officials upheld claims from rival BAT that enabling the device this way was an expected development in the field.

  • April 27, 2026

    Photographers' Copyright Case Against UberEats Is Trimmed

    A Florida federal judge has dismissed part of a suit brought by a group of photographers who accused Uber of infringing their copyrights by displaying their photos on UberEats without permission, saying as to one claim that the photographers were asking the court to make too many inferences.

  • April 27, 2026

    Nina Ricci Brushes Off Lab's 'Ninettacare' EU Cosmetics TM

    Cosmetics giant Puig France has persuaded European officials to block an Italian lab from using the trademark "Ninettacare," because the competing name risked confusing shoppers interested in purchasing its own Nina Ricci makeup and lotion range.

  • April 27, 2026

    Tesla Tells Top Court Patent Pools Must Abide By FRAND

    Tesla urged the U.K.'s top court on Monday to revive the carmaker's bid to hold patent pool operator Avanci liable to set fair licensing rates, as the court reconsiders the jurisdictional limits of British courts to set licensing rates for essential patents.

  • April 27, 2026

    Font Designer Revives Royalties Claim Struck Out As Abuse

    A font designer revived her claim on Monday for an estimated £300,000 ($406,000) in unpaid royalties against a type foundry, as a London appeals court concluded that the case should not have been struck out as an abuse of process.

  • April 27, 2026

    Dior Perfume Line Blocks Brewery's 'Lucky Bastard' TM In EU

    Christian Dior's fragrance unit has persuaded European officials to nix a Czech beer maker's trademark application for "Lucky Bastard" over diet pills, after proving that shoppers might get confused and make a connection with its "Lucky"-branded luxury perfume. 

  • April 27, 2026

    UPC Allows Challenges To Validity Of Expired Patents

    The Unified Patent Court has confirmed that it will hear challenges to patents that have already expired, adding that parties may want to target expired patents to dodge historical infringement claims.

  • April 24, 2026

    Top Court Set To Rule On FRAND Obligations For Patent Pools

    The U.K. Supreme Court is set to consider Monday whether the country's courts can set licensing rates for patents offered through a patent pool for 5G-enabled vehicles, as questions mount over the U.K.'s approach to standard-essential patent litigation.

  • April 24, 2026

    UPC Says Infringement In 1 Country Justifies Broad Injunction

    Europe's patent court has ruled that infringement in just one of the countries that have signed up to it is enough to justify an injunction covering all of them, in a case over a device used in plastic surgery to create a 3D image of the face or other body parts.

  • April 24, 2026

    Nokia Wins Anti-Anti-Suit Injunction In Patent Case

    Nokia has won an anti-anti-suit injunction against Geely amid their ongoing patent licensing feud, persuading the Unified Patent Court to block the carmaker from seeking anti-suit injunctions of its own in China.

  • April 24, 2026

    Film Co. Wins Claim Co-Founder Diverted Work To Rival

    A London judge ruled Friday that a former director and co-founder of a video production company breached his duties to it by diverting business and misusing company information to run a competitor.

  • April 24, 2026

    Rolex Calls Time On Rival's 'Lolex' TM For Pillows

    Rolex has convinced European officials to nix a travel blanket maker's trademark application for "Lolex" over certain pillows, ruling that shoppers would think that the products were part of a Rolex-branded line of luxurious home furnishing.

  • April 24, 2026

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

    The past week in London has seen a Hong Kong company sue the government and a COVID-19 PPE company linked to Tory peer Michelle Mone, an oligarch bring a fresh claim against a rival in a long-running feud, a rugby league club sue over a canceled mass dance event, and Visa and Mastercard hit with legal action from H&M, Eurostar, and Bang & Olufsen. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • April 23, 2026

    Copyright Deals Can Hinge On EU Contract Laws, AG Says

    An adviser to the European Union's top court clarified on Thursday when judges should interpret the validity of cross-border copyright agreements in line with the bloc's conflict-of-laws rules governing contracts.

  • April 23, 2026

    BAT Unit Beats 'Man Royals International' TM For Cigarettes

    A subsidiary of BAT has convinced European officials to nix an Iraqi manufacturer's trademark for "Man Royals International" over tobacco products after it showed that shoppers might link it to its "Royals" brand.

  • April 23, 2026

    ECJ Says Italian Laws Cannot Extend Preliminary Injunctions

    The European Union's highest court ruled Thursday that bloc members cannot keep preliminary injunctions in place in intellectual property cases once someone has missed the cutoff to formally file a claim.

  • April 23, 2026

    Crocs Loses Appeal Over Clog Similarity To 'Holey Soles'

    A European court has rejected Crocs' bid to regain exclusive rights over a clog-shoe design following a challenge from a rival shoemaker, as an earlier design for shoes branded as "Holey Soles" looked far too similar to the American company's model.

  • April 23, 2026

    Vape Co.'s Lawyer Beats Rival's UKIPO Email Contempt Claim

    A Chinese vape company and its solicitors defeated contempt proceedings over emails that asked the U.K. Intellectual Property Office to delay registering a trademark pending an appeal, as a London judge ruled on Thursday that this was "nothing improper."

  • April 22, 2026

    Biogen Loses Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Patent On Appeal

    European appellate officials have revoked a Biogen patent for a multiple sclerosis treatment, ruling that the pharmaceutical giant had wrongly narrowed its patented claims compared with the more general statements of its first application. 

  • April 22, 2026

    WIPO Head Gets Another Term To Lead UN Agency

    World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Daren Tang has been reappointed to the position after being nominated by its coordination committee earlier this year to again lead the United Nations agency.

  • April 22, 2026

    Nokia Fights English Court's Jurisdiction To Hear RAND Claim

    Nokia told the Court of Appeal on Wednesday that the English courts have no business setting terms to license its suite of video-codec patents to Acer and Asus, marking the latest jurisdictional spat over standard-essential patents to reach the appellate court.

  • April 22, 2026

    Drugmaker Denies Ripping Off Veterinary Injection Patent

    A drugmaker has denied copying a Dechra unit's formula used to treat vomiting in cats and dogs, arguing that the pharmaceutical company never held a valid patent over the formula in the U.K.

  • April 22, 2026

    P&G Beats Coffee Co.'s Bid To Nix Pepto-Bismol TM

    European officials have rejected a Spanish café owner's bid to revoke Procter & Gamble's "Pepto" trademark, ruling that shoppers wouldn't mix it up with "Cafes Pepetto" because coffee products had nothing to do with Pepto-Bismol medication for indigestion.

  • April 21, 2026

    Sports Direct Challenges Costs In 10-Year Polo Club TM Spat

    Counsel for Sports Direct asked the Court of Appeal on Tuesday to reconsider whether the licensing arm of Lifestyle Equities should be awarded costs for prevailing in a decade-old trademark fight over the Beverly Hills Polo Club brand.

  • April 21, 2026

    Airbnb Puts Virtual Reality Co.'s 'Vrbnb' Logo TM To Bed

    Airbnb has persuaded a European Union panel to revoke a French company's "Vrbnb" trademark after arguing that its opponent has failed to use the mark within the bloc in recent years.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • UK Courts' 3rd-Party Disclosure Rule Sets Global Precedent

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    The quiet change about to take place in the English Civil Procedure Rules, enabling U.K. courts to require pre-action disclosure of information from overseas third parties, is uncharted territory and will have profound implications for any organization that handles assets on behalf of a party, says Simon Bushell at Seladore Legal.

  • Zara TM Ruling Shows Prefiling Clearance Is Always Advisable

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    The recent Trade Mark Tribunal decision regarding Zara and House of Zana demonstrates the importance of conducting prefiling clearance investigations, so that where opposition may be anticipated, a strategy can be put in place, says Melanie Harvey at Birketts.

  • Dutch Merger May Promote Behavioral Remedies Across EU

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    A Dutch tribunal's recent clearing of the Sanoma-Iddink deal might further encourage merging parties in the EU to offer — and government agencies to accept — behavioral remedies, which was rarer when more emphasis was put on divestments, says Robert Hardy at Greenberg Traurig.

  • How Will UK Address AI Patent Infringement?

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    As artificial intelligence-related patent litigation activity inevitably approaches, a review of U.K. principles of direct and indirect liability offers insight into how courts may address questions involving cloud-based technology and arguments related to training AI models, say Alexander Korenberg at Kilburn & Strode and Toby Bond at Bird & Bird.

  • Law Commission's 'Data Objects' Proposal Is Far-Reaching

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    The Law Commission’s proposals to recognize data objects as a new category of personal property would bring fundamental changes were they to be implemented, and would have significant ramifications for finance litigation, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • UK Rulings Give Chinese Courts Wide Powers In IP Disputes

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    The recent rulings in Nokia v. Oppo and Philips v. Oppo open the door for Chinese courts to adjudicate worldwide rate-setting terms for standard-essential patents, and in so doing present a timely wake-up call as to China's influence, say F. Scott Kieff at George Washington University Law School and Thomas Grant at the University of Cambridge.

  • Swatch V. Samsung Offers IP Warning To Platform Operators

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    The recent U.K. High Court decision of Swatch v. Samsung demonstrates that while platform operators may wish to exercise greater control over the apps distributed on their platforms, this carries with it a corresponding duty to apply due diligence to protect the intellectual property rights of third parties, say Alex Borthwick and William Hillson at Powell Gilbert.

  • Opinion

    The USPTO Should Give Ukraine Even More Help

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark office should take three direct steps to help confer upon Ukraine's patent office the same benefits it previously granted to Russia's Rospatent, in addition to the sanctions the USPTO has already conferred in response to the attack on Ukraine, say David Kappos at Cravath, Teresa Summers at Summers Law Group and Andrew Baluch at Smith Baluch.

  • International Law May Protect Foreign Investors In Russia

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    Investment treaties that allow eligible foreign investors to bring claims for compensation by way of international arbitration may offer a better, or the only, avenue to recover losses for assets that have been seized by Russia, say attorneys at Cooley.

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