The UK has joined the Geneva Act under the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs ("Hague Agreement") with effect from 13th June 2018.

The EU Intellectual Property Office has recently issued a Decision which cancels McDonald's EU protection for the trade mark BIG MAC.

Negotiations continue between the UK and the EU on a Withdrawal Agreement prior to Brexit which is due to take place on 29 March 2019.

Myriad means that the approaches to excluded subject matter in the area of biotechnology taken in Europe and the USA now differ more considerably.

Historically, it has been extremely difficult to predict how long it will take to obtain a granted European patent.

It is looking increasingly likely that the new Unitary Patent covering multiple EU countries will enter into force in 2017.

The scope of protection afforded by a patent is defined by its claims, those strangely-worded single-sentence statements found at the back of your patent.

Jim Pearson spent a week in Turkey recently and couldn't resist taking some photos of the local shop signs. Some were, in his opinion, playful – possibly harmless – takes on some well-known brands:

In October 2014 the scope of the UK IPO's opinion service was expanded to give it more "teeth". The UK IPO is now able to initiate revocation proceedings of its own motion if a patent is found to be "clearly invalid" . . .

The question of whether something that falls outside the literal wording of a patent claim is nevertheless an infringement, is one that the courts have had to consider on numerous occasions.

There are small increases to the basic application, search and examination fees, and Year 12-20 renewal fees.

The inclusion of a disclaimer, where subject matter is carved out from the scope of a patent claim by means of a negative feature is not explicitly allowed for in the European Patent Convention (EPC).

The inclusion of a disclaimer, where subject matter is carved out from the scope of a patent claim by means of a negative feature is not explicitly allowed for in the European Patent Convention (EPC).

The Unified Patent Court, Unitary Patent and Brexit all present IP holders with challenges and opportunities. Proper planning will help in overcoming the challenges and exploiting the opportunities presented.

We have previously reported (please see our newsletter from March 2018) that the UK and the EU had, in principle and subject to the agreement of the draft Withdrawal Agreement,

A SPC is a unique intellectual property right that can give up to 5 years additional protection for a medicinal or veterinary product or a plant protection product covered by a patent after the patent term has expired.

In June last year, we reported that the Court of Appeal confirmed that the shape of the four finger KitKat chocolate bar is not sufficiently distinctive to act as a trade mark, despite evidence showing that a large...

On 1 November 2014 the EPO implemented an amended Rule 164 relating to searches of international applications that have entered the European phase (Euro-PCT applications).

The draft Treaty (found here) is very wide-ranging but includes a specific section relating to its proposals for the treatment of certain types of Intellectual ...

It is important that a business makes sure that it owns the rights in an invention before it files a patent application.