The European Patent Office has released a “Unitary Patent dashboard” offering “a timely snapshot of applicants’ eagerness to opt for the Unitary Patent”. Live figures show that as of today, 1 August 2023, there have been 5665 requests for unitary effect, with the most popular technologies being Infrastructure & Mechanics (20.8%), Health (19.2%) and Materials … Read more

Six weeks into the new Unified Patent Court and unitary patent, both elements of the new system seem to have taken off, with unitary patents proving popular and the first cases being filed (17 infringement and 3 revocation actions to date). Whilst opt-outs are high and teething problems remain with the case search systems and some practical procedural issues, a certain UPC momentum is developing, with the first preliminary injunctions and orders also being granted. Read more

On 1 June 2023, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) and unitary patent (UP) system finally launched, bringing with it fundamental changes to the patent landscape across Europe. Laura Orlando, Milan Partner and Joint Global Head of Intellectual Property at Herbert Smith Freehills, was recently interviewed by Amy Sandys at JUVE Patent, alongside other private practice and in-house IP lawyers, to discuss some of their hopes, potential challenges, and what the UPC means to them. Read more

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

On 18 May 2023, the Italian government confirmed that the third Central Division seat of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) will be hosted in Milan. The statement issued by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has said that the new seat will be operational within one year. However, with the UPC launch date approaching on 1 June 2023, Paris and Munich will initially share the caseload until Milan is operational, as confirmed by the UPC Presidium on 16 May 2023 (see our previous blog post). Read more

The UPC has announced that the UPC Presidium has exercised its managerial power to decide that matters before the UPC that would have fallen under the patent classifications (A and C) that would have originally gone to London until the UK withdrew from the UPC Agreement, will be shared between Paris and Munich initially, as of the UPC start date of 1 June 2023, until such time as a decision has been made on the third seat. Read more

In this instalment of our series The IP in AI, we take a look at the extent to which copyright and other rights currently provide protection for output generated by AI systems, including how concepts of 'authorship' and 'originality' may need to be adapted to meet the rapid growth of generative AI. Read more

Uses of machine learning and AI are expanding rapidly, and IP rights play a critical role in both regulating the use of AI and protecting the rights of inventors and creators. In this series, we will explore the key challenges governments worldwide are currently grappling with in order to provide the right level of protection … Read more