Market Intelligence

The UK Government has released its response to the Standard Essential Patents consultation, signaling a measured approach to SEP reform that prioritizes transparency and practical dispute resolution mechanisms over sweeping legislative changes. While rejecting proposals for a dedicated FRAND rate-setting court track, the response outlines new initiatives including voluntary disclosure mechanisms and potential early neutral evaluation processes that could reshape how SEP licensing disputes are handled in the

As large language models become increasingly integrated into daily workflows, inventors and legal professionals face a critical question: does discussing an invention with AI compromise patent protection? Recent UK case law suggests that uploading confidential information to open-source AI tools may constitute public disclosure, potentially destroying the novelty required for patent grants.

The EU General Court has dismissed Puma's challenge to invalidate Sir Safety System SpA's registered design for a pebble-like footwear sole, reinforcing the 'overall impression' test as the key criterion for determining individual character. Despite Puma's claims that it had established a market trend with its distinctive pebble sole design and owned 30 earlier design registrations, the court found that the contested design created a sufficiently different overall impression on an informed user through vari

Charities today manage complex brand ecosystems spanning trading subsidiaries, fundraising vehicles, and international operations, yet their governance of these valuable brand assets often lags behind organizational sophistication. This article examines why trade mark ownership and intra-group licensing have become critical trustee responsibilities, exploring the hidden risks created by legacy structures and offering practical guidance for protecting and leveraging charitable brand assets effectively.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court's dismissal of DMCA claims against GitHub's AI-powered coding tools, ruling that LLM-generated code constitutes newly created work rather than copies with removed copyright management information. This decision addresses whether AI tools that learn from open-source code and generate new code violate copyright law when they don't include attribution from their training data.

The UK Intellectual Property Office has issued new guidance clarifying how animated digital designs, graphical user interfaces, and moving sequences can be protected under UK design law. This Practice Notice addresses growing confusion around what constitutes a single, unitary design when multiple representations are involved, particularly for digital products with animation or screen transitions.