Insights

Many technologies have dual-use potential, having both civilian and defence or military applications. Technologies originally developed for civilian applications may be subsequently exploited for defence or military applications. Alternatively, technologies may be developed via a ‘dual use by design’ approach, integrating dual-use directly into their development.

InterDigital and Disney are in wide dispute over Disney’s alleged use of InterDigital’s video compression technology for their Disney+ streaming service.  This particular case relates to one of four infringement actions brought by InterDigital against Disney at the UPC so far.

Head of AI Development and UK & European Patent Attorney at Dehns, Dr Coreena Brinck, explores how AI is transforming the value of medical data, and the effect it is having on Intellectual Property Strategy.

Through my career as an IP consultant, advising companies on how best to develop an IP strategy to create and grow value through IP assets, I have often seen software businesses relying on copyright for IP protection. Patents were often seen as too expensive and for hardware type business and not relevant to business innovating faster that than the time it takes to get a patent. Trade secret protection was usually seen as too bureaucratic and against the internal sharing culture encouraged within software companies. The tide may be turning.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed Shorts International’s appeal against Google, confirming that YouTube Shorts does not infringe the SHORTSTV trade mark.

Phase 1 of the EU design reforms took place on 1 May 2025.  Now it is time for phase 2.

One of the big changes that was brought in with phase 1 was the expansion of the definition of a design to include movement, transition and animation of features.  Phase 2 now provides an updated framework for representing designs and it should make representing animations easier.

The oral proceedings were held for G 1/25 and now the patent profession awaits the decision.

For university spin-outs, a patent strategy is central to value creation, funding readiness and effective technology transfer. Yet many founders turn to public AI tools to summarise their inventions, sometimes even sharing confidential details in the hope of drafting patent claims, saving costs on professional advice or filling gaps they haven’t considered.

For many tech start-up founders, using public AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot is second nature to save time/ cut costs.  It’s understandable to also want to use them to explore whether something might be patentable, but, when it comes to patents, that convenience can quietly undermine the very asset they are trying to protect.

Henry Coop recently graduated from the University of Oxford with an MPhys degree specialising in quantum physics and now works as a trainee patent attorney at Dehns. In this article, he reflects on specialising in quantum information processing, condensed matter physics and quantum computing at Oxford, and how that academic background now supports his work in intellectual property and emerging technologies.