The IP Division of the Court of Rome has issued a preliminary injunction to prohibit the minting and marketing of Non-Fungible-Tokens ("NFT") that, unauthorised, reproduced well-known trade marks owned by the Juventus football club. While various cases related to NFTs and intellectual property rights are pending before the US courts, this is the first time that a court in Europe has found an NFT to be infringing IP rights, setting a useful precedent for brand owners seeking to protect their trade marks in the new era of the metaverse. Read more

The new European Unified Patent Court (UPC) has been a long time coming – and now just a little bit longer with the two month delay recently announced. The new start date is 1 June 2023 with the sunrise period in which to pre-register opt-outs of European patents from the UPC's jurisdiction now starting on 1 March 2023. Despite the short delay, businesses around the world must continue to consider their strategies for the UPC and, in particular, opt-out, ahead of the revised start date. Herbert Smith Freehills' Joint Global Head of Intellectual Property, Laura Orlando, recently spoke to Bloomberg Law to share her insights on what US lawyers should be considering in advance of its launch. Read more

The UPC website has announced today that the start date for the sunrise period will be delayed until 1 March 2023 to allow users to prepare themselves for the strong authentication required to access the UPC's case management system (CMS) and to sign documents.  Previously the sunrise period was due to start on 1 January 2023.  This delay means that that start date for the UPC will also be pushed back by two months, to 1 June 2023 (rather than 1 April). The UPC site says that no further delay is anticipated. This June start date would require Germany to deposit its instrument of ratification of the UPC Agreement in February. Read more

Following the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Administrative Committee's appointment of 85 legal and technical judges last month, including the appointment of two legally qualified judges in the Milan local division, Herbert Smith Freehills' Joint Global Head of Intellectual Property Laura Orlando shares her insights with Managing IP on what this may mean for the UPC. Read more

The Unified Patent Court has launched its official website today, replacing the UPC Preparatory Committee's original site at the same address: www.unified-patent-court.org.  The new website carries links to all the key legal documents establishing the Court and to the Procedural Rules, as well as information on the Court and Registry. Read more