Insights

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

For university spin-outs, developing a patent strategy is a core part of value creation, funding readiness and successful technology transfer. Alas, many founders and research teams instinctively reach for public AI tools when it comes to summarising their inventions, and some even upload confidential details of the technology they are developing under the belief that by coming up with some patent claims they will save money when talking to a professional patent attorney or ask the AI to “fill in the missing gaps” that they have not thought about.

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.

Hot on the heels of Luke Littler’s much-discussed application to register his facial image as a trade mark, Taylor Swift’s company TAS Rights Management has filed three new trade mark applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) — two audio clips of her voice and one photograph of her on stage.

The recent application by Luke Littler to protect an image of his face as a trade mark in the UK has understandably attracted a lot of media attention. Whilst filing trade mark applications for portrait images is still something of a novelty, the application is likely to represent more than a creative attempt at brand protection, but rather a strategic response to the rapidly evolving threat posed by AI.

Cosmetic giant, Estée Lauder has launched legal proceedings in the High Court against perfumer Jo Malone, her fragrance company Jo Loves, and high street retailer, Zara, for trade mark infringement, passing off, and breach of contract.