Patents

Reaffirming the principle that AI inventions must meet the same patentability criteria as other computer-implemented inventions

The recent Court of Appeal decision in EWCA Civ 825 has significant implications for the patentability of AI inventions in the UK. The Court of Appeal reversed the High Court’s…

Can you obtain a patent for inventions made by AI?

The recent decision by the UK Supreme Court in Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks [2023] UKSC 49 (“Thaler”), authored by Lord Kitchin, has provided some clarification…

The Legal Adventures of Generative AI: Navigating the Maze of IP Law

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm, but we’re not talking about Siri or Alexa. We’re talking about AI-generated art, music, and even food recipes. But with great…

How To Protect Your Product Design

What is a ‘product’ anyway? Most of us understand the word product to mean ‘something that has been produced’ (i.e. manufactured or made). The EU law regulating the protection of…

EPO: AI cannot be a designated inventor under the European Patent Convention

On 21 December 2021, the Legal Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) announced its decision in appeals J 8/20 and J 9/20 to refuse two patent applications…

Patents for medication: a blessing and a curse

Patents are incredibly powerful intellectual property rights. In the pharmaceutical and medical industries in particular.

Shhhh… don’t mention the patent

When people think of intellectual property protection often the first thing that pops into their mind is a patent (and then the question of how it’s pronounced). But patents can…

Should I patent my invention?

Some handy hints for Tech Start-Ups and others. The great writer Charles Dickens covered almost every aspect of life including the patent process in his reprinted piece ‘A Poor Man’s…

Can you patent a Santa Claus Detector?

Yes, you can. Well, in the US, anyway. The patent granted protection for a Christmas Stocking, as shown above, which would “signal the arrival of Santa Claus by illuminating externally…

Apple v. Samsung: a 7-year battle with no real winner

On Wednesday 27th June 2018, the never-ending patent battle between Apple and Samsung finally came to an end. The story begins in 2011 when Apple sued Samsung, alleging the company…

The UK moves towards the unitary patent

On 26 April 2018 (“World IP Day”) the UK’s IP Minister Sam Gyimah announced that the UK has, at long last, ratified the Unified Patent Court (UPC) Agreement. Why does…

What does the CSI Effect and Suits have to do with your knowledge of the law?

In 2006, the CSI Effect was prevalent throughout the criminal courts of America, with jurors questioning forensic evidence through information that had been learned off of the TV show CSI:…

Why the Unitary Patent Matters to You: A Beginner’s Guide to the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court

If you’re the owner of a European Patent (‘EP’) or considering applying for one, but haven’t yet been brave enough to face the prospect of getting to grips with the…

Are Carlsberg’s new beer patents controversial? Probably …

This year, the European Patent Office (EPO) granted three new patents to Carlsberg (EP2384110, EP2373154 and EP2575433) relating, broadly, to the harvest of kernels from barley plants, the process for…