30th Mar 2023
To extend the protection of patented human and veterinary medicinal products, supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) can be obtained. SPCs are national rights that can be obtained for all EU member states and some non-EU states including the UK. For an SPC to be granted, the following four requirements must be met
19th Aug 2022
At the end of 2021, the UK IPO launched a call for views into whether the Standard Essential Patent (SEP) system in the UK was functioning efficiently or required modification. The consultation ran for 12 weeks to 1 March 2022 and received 56 written responses from a range of stakeholders, including SEP holders (innovators), implementers, law firms, and professional bodies.
7th Sep 2021
As part of the UK Government’s innovation strategy, the UK Intellectual Property Office has launched a new “IP Access” fund which provides grants of up to £5,000 (inc. VAT).
28th Oct 2020
The United Kingdom’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) recently released a report on sectors of the economy which make the most intensive use of intellectual property (IP) rights, and how much these sectors contribute to the UK economy.
9th Sep 2020
The UK Intellectual Property Office published, on 7 September 2020, a call for views on the future of Artificial Intelligence and the UK IP framework.
1st Sep 2020
A recent decision from the High Court gives a boost to those seeking to protect fintech inventions. In Lenovo v UK IPO Comptroller of Patents Mr Justice Birss shows that the UK can be pro patent for business-method and software, provided you know where to look…
16th Jul 2020
In November 2019, Reddie & Grose reported on a decision of the UK IPO in relation to a partially-successful opposition by Unilever PLC to UK Application No 3298871. The applicant’s appeal against this decision has now been dismissed, despite an acknowledgement from the Appointed Person that “valid criticisms” had been made about Unilever’s evidence of use as part of their opposition. This case confirms the well-established principle that it is not essential to file specific types of evidence in order to prove use of a mark, but that the evidence as a whole must demonstrate genuine use. It also suggests that genuine use of a mark may be found even if the evidence filed relates to a precursor of the protected goods, rather than the protected goods themselves: in this case, the relevant protected goods were “ice cream”, while the evidence primarily related to sales of ice cream mix.
24th Jun 2020
Because of the disruption caused by the Covid 19 pandemic, since 24 March 2020 the UK IPO has treated every day as an “interrupted day” as far as deadlines are concerned. This applies to UK applications and registrations for: patents, supplementary protection certificates, trade marks, designs. It also applies to deadlines in proceedings relating to these rights, such as oppositions and invalidity actions.