Insights

The creation and enjoyment of music is, in many ways, one of humanity’s purest creative activities. It is tempting to draw sharp contrast between the aesthetic nature and inexact qualities of musical creation and the analytical rigour of modern scientific research and technological innovation. To translate into IP terms: isn’t music is the realm of copyright rather than patents?

With the changes to EU Design law coming into force on 1 May 2025, there are changes to how renewal periods are calculated.  There are also significant increases to the renewal fees.

Holders of EU designs should check carefully that they monitor renewal deadlines according to the new rules from 1 May 2025, especially as these deadlines will now fall a few days earlier in most cases. Consideration should also be given to early payment, where possible, to take advantage of the current lower fees.

After more than 20 years, the legislation for Registered Community Designs is being updated. The first phase of these changes will come into force on 1 May 2025.

Beyond the semantics of the name change from “Community Designs” to “EU Designs”, the purpose is to modernise design protection to adapt to new technologies. This includes provisioning for animation designs, non-physical products, and 3D printing.

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) has been open for a little over a year, and its first substantive decisions on revocation and infringement actions are starting to come through. The latest statistics published by the UPC at the end of October 2024 show a total of 538 cases received by the Court of First Instance, with 206 infringement actions and 274 revocation actions (including counterclaims).  A skim through the UPC decisions page also shows that a wide range of groups are getting involved in the UPC, from large to small companies and from engineering to pharma, putting to bed the fear that uptake in this new court would be low.

We look at the general principles of patent working requirements and take a closer look at some jurisdictions which have more stringent requirements on patent working post-grant.  We also look at what you can do in order to prevent a third party from accessing your patented technology.

Dehns client, Blackout Technologies, is making headlines with its groundbreaking work in limiting smartphone use in schools. Recently featured in The Times, on BBC Radio 4 and other news outlets, the company is gaining well-deserved recognition for its innovative approach.

Icelandic performance artist Odee Friðriksson’s work, We’re Sorry—an attempt to tackle corporate wrongdoing—has floundered in the High Court. Dehns Trade Mark Attorney, Tiernan Graham, discusses.

In a recent decision, the UPC Court of Appeal ruled on the correction of errors in a patent by interpretation. This case, concerning Alexion Pharmaceuticals’ patent (EP3167888), underscores the importance of precise drafting and consistency in arguments used during patent litigation.

In a trade mark infringement case brought by Shorts International Limited (“SIL”) against Google LLC (“Google”) in the High Court of England and Wales, a decision by Michael Tappin KC towards the end of 2024 gave a salutary reminder regarding the scope of trade marks containing descriptive elements.

As of 1 January 2025 some changes to UK Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) practice will come into force in relation to human medicines.