Innovation that happens in an "open" collaborative context – either internally or with external partners - can provide faster, better, more holistic results to accelerate innovation and improve competitive advantage, concludes our new report: Open Innovation: Collaborate to Innovate based on "innovation" interviews with our clients. Read more
HSF's Consumer sector team (including Joel Smith, Victoria Horsey, Sarah Burke and Rachel Montagnon, from our IP group) have just a feature article published in June's PLC Magazine on Challenges in the Consumer Sector.This is the first in a series of three articles examining the current issues facing the sector.The article examines the impact of transformative technology and looks in particular at AI, AR & VR (including IP aspects), data commercialisation, Internet of Things, contextual commerce, data privacy, cyber security, targeted advertising, and on-line infringement of IP rights.For more on these and other issues affecting the Consumer sector see our Future of Consumer hub. Read more
Faced with the exponential rise of data as an asset class in its own right, organisations are now taking a fresh look at the data that are available or accessible to them and the ways in which the value of those data can be safeguarded, unlocked and maximised. Data have become a strategic and valuable asset for many organisations but protecting and exploiting that asset is not always simple.Our feature article, published in May's edition of PLC Magazine and linked in this post, considers data as an asset, how intellectual property rights can be employed to protect data, how data can be used effectively and how to minimise associated legal risks. Read more
Key recent developments in the United Kingdom and Europe relating to patents and the pharmaceutical sector This issue reports on the recent UK Supreme Court decision in the tadalafil case, which foreshadows how English courts will probably respond to issues of obviousness arising from patents directed to dosage regimes going forward. We discuss the Court of Appeal’s … Read more
Yesterday’s unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court in Actavis v ICOS (27 March 2019) emphasised that the question of whether an invention is obvious under the statutory test must be approached by using a fact specific assessment. The statutory test ultimately requiring a single question to be answered: was it obvious to the skilled but … Read more
In Abraxis Bioscience LLC v the Comptroller General of Patents (Case C-443/17) the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) held that Supplementary Protection Certificates (“SPCs”) cannot be obtained for new formulations of previously approved active ingredients. This limitation on the availability of SPCs will be disappointing to the pharmaceutical industry, which continues to … Read more
See the updated IP section of the revised Herbert Smith Freehills Brexit Legal Guide which reviews the IP and pharma elements of the draft Withdrawal Agreement endorsed by the EU Council on 25 November 2018 and the no deal provisions as set out by the UK Government in its technical notices and draft SIs issued towards … Read more
