Intellectual Property – A Look Forward 2022

The Intellectual Property Group looks at upcoming developments in IP law, including: new legislation, the Unitary Patent and expected cases of significance. For a review of changes in IP law that unfolded in the past 12 months, please see our "Look Back" article, here.

Upcoming Legislation

• Legislative proposals are expected from the European Commission in the second quarter of 2022 for the revision of both the Directive 98/71/EC (the "Design Directive") and Council Regulation (EC) No 6/2002 (the "Community Design Regulation").
• The European Commission has published proposals for a "Data Act" which will aim to facilitate the access to and use of data, including in a business-to-business context. As part of the development of this initiative, a review of Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases (the "Database Directive") will be conducted. The current proposals clarify that databases containing data from Internet-of-Things devices and objects