Innovation, IP and the energy transition – Creative tensions

The scale of the change needed to tackle climate change is enormous and it is clear the global transformation to a low carbon economy will be underpinned by technological innovation. Incredibly, according to the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero by 2050 report, almost half of emission reductions required by 2050 will come from technologies currently at the demonstration or prototype stage. So, attracting investment and increasing the speed with which this technology can come to market is critical. Read more

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) starts today – 1 June 2023

Today marks the launch of the new Unified Patent Court (UPC) and unitary patent (UP) system in Europe – the culmination of decades of work, bringing with it fundamental changes to the way in which patents can be litigated in Europe. Find out more about the UPC, the unitary patent, and how our fully integrated … Read more

UK withdraws plans for broader Text and Data Mining (TDM) copyright and database right exception

The UK Minister for Science, Research and Innovation has stated in Parliament that the UK Government will not be proceeding with an extension to the UK's text and data mining exception that would have allowed, to allow much broader access to materials needed for machine learning and to train AI systems, which had been proposed in 2022 following the UK Government's consultation on changes to IP legislation that might be necessitated by the advent of AI. This means that the only exception for TDM will remain its use for non-commercial purposes, which in turn may mean that AI developers are more cautious about doing R&D work in the UK than they might have been if the broader exception had been pursued. Read more

Deposit of final required ratification means that the UPC will to go live on 1 June 2023

The Unified Patent Court will start to accept cases on 1 June 2023 and the sunrise period for opt-out of European patents from the new court's jurisdiction will start on 1 March. Germany has today (17 February 2023) deposited its instrument of ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA), the final ratification required to trigger the run-up period to the start of the UPC. The arrival of the UPC will mark a fundamental change in patent litigation in Europe, providing a one-stop-shop for resolution of patent disputes - with the possibility of pan-European injunction and damages awards but also of the revocation (loss) of patents across participating states in one action too Read more

Real Estate Guide to IP – Updated for 2023

In conjunction with our Real Estate division, the Herbert Smith Freehills London IP group has published a guide to the intellectual property issues that can arise in relation to real estate. It can be the case that sites or buildings are purchased without necessarily considering fully whether the underlying intellectual property assets are being transferred and what future access or control the new owner may need, or the vendor wish to retain. Read more

Innovation-based collaboration agreements: key IP considerations – an HSF video podcast for Practical Law

Collaborations for innovation are often established relatively quickly in pursuit of a commercial advantage. In this video recorded for Practical Law, Jonathan Turnbull and Rachel Montagnon share advice on managing such arrangements to maximise the likelihood of a successful outcome for all parties and in particular establishing the ownership, management and use of the IP involved. Read more

Start date for UPC postponed to 1 June 2023 and sunrise period for opt-out to 1 March 2023

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