RATIFICATION OF THE UPC AGREEMENT IN SIGHT? GERMAN CONSTITUTIONAL DECISION LIKELY EARLY IN 2020

The outcome is still awaited of the constitutional case objecting to a ratification of the UPCA by Germany, which was listed to be decided in 2019.  In a recent interview, Judge Huber of the German Federal Constitutional Court (which is the court due to decide the case) denied that the delay had anything to do with Brexit, rather that other important cases were also waiting to be decided and took precedence. He suggested that the case might be decided in the early part of 2020. Read more

European pharma patent law update

Hear the latest developments in European pharmaceutical patent law from France, Italy and the UK. Now available on demand. Key topics included: The situation of provisional damages in PI proceedings and the consequences in terms of damages of a wrongly awarded PI in France and Italy The implications of the above with respect to involving … Read more

Harnessing the power of diversity in IP

On Thursday 7 November, our London IP team hosted a panel discussion and roundtable session on 'Harnessing the power of diversity in IP'. This was part of an ongoing campaign with World IP Review (WIPR), to celebrate the achievements of influential women in IP and to improve gender diversity in the profession. Read more

Deepfakes: is seeing still believing?

The BBC thriller The Capture has captured the public’s imagination with its portrayal of the relationship between deepfakes and CCTV evidence, and the serious legal risks associated with this technology. In a recent report published by non-profit research institute Data & Society, deepfakes were found to be “no new threat to democracy”, in that audiovisual … Read more

AG’s Opinion in SkyKick maintains the case’s chilling effect on enforcement of trade mark rights, pending clarity from the CJEU

The CJEU’s Advocate-General (‘AG’) has delivered his Opinion that a registered trade mark cannot be declared invalid solely due to the terms used in the mark’s specification lacking ‘sufficient’ clarity and precision. However, this statement came with the substantial caveat that a lack of clarity and precision in the specification could cause the application/registration to … Read more

Patent and Pharma Update, October 2019

Key recent developments in the United Kingdom and Europe relating to patents and the pharmaceutical sector In this issue we provide updates from the CJEU on SPCs: in one case the CJEU has declined to consider a referral from the UK while in another the Advocate General has issued his opinion on the interpretation of Article 3(a) … Read more

Do you want it right now? Contextual commerce will show you how …

“Contextual commerce”, the next retail frontier? One-click purchasing platforms that link the immediate “want” with the immediate “sell”. Read all about it in the latest edition in our Future of Consumer series on challenges facing the consumer and retail sector: Do you want it right now? The exciting future of contextual commerce. E-commerce has revolutionised … Read more