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June 13, 2025
LG Secures Patent For Video Compressing Device
South Korean tech conglomerate LG Electronics has swayed officials at the European Patent Office to overturn a decision refusing its patent for a video compression technique aimed at reducing memory use and processing demands.
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June 13, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen Tottenham Hotspur FC kick off against Manchester United co-owner Ineos Automotive following a soured sponsorship deal, Acer and Nokia clash over patents for video coding technology, and two investors reignite litigation against the founders of an AI exercise bike business that unlawfully pocketed $1.2 million in investments to fund their own lifestyles. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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June 13, 2025
American Furniture Brand Can TM 'Furnico' Despite 'Furneco'
A furniture maker has won its bid to register "Furnico" as a trademark despite a rival U.K. company having already registered "Furneco," after British officials ruled that its presence on the U.S. market for almost 20 years gave it a leg up.Â
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June 13, 2025
Philip Morris Loses Bid To Invalidate E-Cigarette Patent
A subsidiary of the tobacco company behind Golden Virginia and Rizla has held on to its electronic smoking device patent at a European appellate board, snubbing opposition by Philip Morris.
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June 12, 2025
Anti-Piracy Firm Founder Denies Undermining Company
The founder of an anti-piracy technology company has pushed back on claims that he made disparaging comments about the business to clients and misused its confidential information when he departed.
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June 12, 2025
Google Beats Media Co.'s Fresh Appeal For 'Shorts' TM
Google LLC has fended off a London media company's appeal against an earlier decision to partially cancel its "Shorts" trademark, marking the latest chapter in a years-long trademark tussle over the rights to the word in the world of short-form video.
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June 12, 2025
Christian Group Can't Register 'He Gets Us' As EU TMÂ
A U.S. evangelical Christian group can't register as a European trademark the Jesus-focused "He Gets Us" slogan popularized by the group's Super Bowl ads because European officials found this week that consumers would understand it described the organization's religious promotional services.Â
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June 12, 2025
Pet Clothes Biz Says Rival Copied Medical Shirt Design
A Dutch company that makes shirts for pets to wear after treatment has launched legal proceedings against a U.K. rival for allegedly infringing its copyright by selling a range of shirts "highly similar" to its own pet recovery garments.
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June 11, 2025
Coinbase Loses 'Bad Faith' TM Clash With Rival At EU Court
A European Union court tossed Coinbase's latest attempt to void a Japanese crypto exchange's "coinbase" trademark on Wednesday, ruling there was no proof the company acted in bad faith by registering the mark.
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June 11, 2025
Carlsberg, Heineken Must Face Attacks On Barley Drink Patent
European officials will have to reconsider a patent for a barley-based beverage owned by Carlsberg and Heineken, after an appeals board ruled that a decision rejecting oppositions to the invention suffered from "fundamental deficiencies."
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June 11, 2025
Sherwin-Williams Lays Farrow & Ball 'Dead Flat' TM To Rest
Luxury paint company Farrow & Ball has lost its trademark "dead flat" after a U.S. rival convinced U.K. trademark officials that the mark is merely an industry-standard description of a type of paint finish.
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June 11, 2025
Baklava Biz Denies Trying To Pass As Established Coffee Co.
A London dessert shop has denied claims that it copied the trademarks of a 150-year-old Turkish coffee brand to mislead consumers into buying baklavas and other regional treats.Â
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June 11, 2025
McDonald's Wins Big Mac TM Battle With Irish Fast Food Biz
McDonald's has persuaded European Union officials to block two trademark applications from Supermac's, an Irish fast food chain, leaving its opponent in a pickle after proving there was a risk of confusion with its "Big Mac" branding.
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June 11, 2025
EasyGroup Keeps 'EasyPod' UK TM Hopes Alive
Value brand company easyGroup has fought off an attempt to block its "easyPod" trademark application in the U.K., convincing officials that consumers will not confuse the sign with a storage company's "Pods" brand.
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June 10, 2025
Stability AI Chides Getty's 'Cynical' Bid To Find Infringing Pics
Stability AI, the makers of generative AI model Stable Diffusion, fired back Tuesday at claims that it had infringed Getty Images'Â intellectual property, claiming that Getty has failed to point to any instances of real world infringement.Â
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June 10, 2025
MPs Shun Peers' AI Copyright Transparency Pleas Once More
MPs voted again on Tuesday to reject an amendment from peers to a pending bill that would require artificial intelligence developers to be transparent about the copyrighted material they use to develop their models.
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June 10, 2025
IBM Seeks £1.6M After Winning Reverse-Engineering Claim
IBM has said that LzLabs must pay over £1.6 million ($2.2 million) in damages for reverse-engineering its software products in order to build a rival platform, adding to the Swiss company's £20 million bill.
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June 10, 2025
Nokia Loses Patent For 5G-Segmentation Method
European appellate officials refused to grant Nokia a patent for a system to improve network transmissions, ruling that a previous system already revealed its key method for breaking down large data packets into smaller segments.
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June 10, 2025
Gene-Editing Biotech Says Rivals Infringed CRISPR Patent
A Korean biotech company has accused several companies of infringing its CRISPR gene-editing patent in the U.K., telling a London court that they must enter a license to use the technology.
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June 09, 2025
Australian Beauty Biz Can't Register 'XTendlash' Mascara TM
A cosmetics company based in Sydney, Australia, has lost its attempt to register the trademark "Xtendlash" for mascara, after European trademark officials found that "extend" and "lash" was a direct description of the purpose of the eye makeup product.
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June 09, 2025
Researcher Can't Get UK Patent For Colon Cancer Treatment
U.K. intellectual property officials have rejected a researcher's application for a patent covering a colon cancer treatment, ruling that it isn't sufficiently new over one of her own earlier publications.
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June 09, 2025
Orange Loses TM Protections For Physical Products
French telecoms giant Orange has lost some of the rights covered by its "Orange" trademarks after U.K. officials agreed with a Romanian businessman that the signs for physical goods could literally describe the products as having an orange color.
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June 09, 2025
Getty's 'Day Of Reckoning' Begins As Stability AI Trial Opens
Getty Images opened its landmark copyright infringement case against Stability AI Monday by accusing the technology company of building its generative AI model on millions of images with "complete indifference" for underlying intellectual property protections.
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June 09, 2025
Music Co. Fails To Secure Piano Key TM In EU
A musical instrument retailer has lost its quest for a trademark over a logo that depicts five piano keys, failing to convince European Union officials that the mark is distinctive enough to identify its goods.
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June 06, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
The past week in London has seen MGM and the owners of the "Addams Family" trademark sue a private equity firm, two Cambridge colleges file for injunctions against Pro-Palestine student protest groups and a former NBA player brings a claim against Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.
Expert Analysis
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Bribery Class Action Ruling May Revive Bifurcated Processes
The Court of Appeal's recent decision allowing the representative bribery action in Commission Recovery v. Marks & Clerk offers renewed hope for claimants to advance class claims using a bifurcated process amid its general absence as of late, say Jon Gale and Justin Browne at Ashurst.
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Ocado Appeal Outcome Will Gauge UPC Transparency
As the sole Unified Patent Court case concerning third-party requests for court records, the forthcoming appeal decision in Ocado v. Autostore will hopefully set out a clear and consistent way to handle reasoned requests, as access to nonconfidential documents will surely lead to more efficient conduct of proceedings, says Tom Brazier at EIP.
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Businesses Using AI Face Novel Privacy, Cybersecurity Risks
Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence are resulting in complex privacy and cybersecurity challenges for businesses, and with the forthcoming EU AI Act and enhancement of existing laws to ensure a high common level of security, key stakeholders should be empowered to manage associated risks, say lawyers at Goodwin.
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Following The Road Map Toward Quantum Security
With the Financial Conduct Authority’s recent publication of a white paper on a quantum-secure financial sector, firms should begin to consider the quantum transition early — before the process is driven by regulatory obligations — with the goal of developing a cybersecurity architecture that is agile while also allowing for quantum security, say lawyers at Cleary.
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AI Is Outpacing IP Law Frameworks
In Thaler v. Comptroller-General, the U.K. Supreme Court recently ruled that artificial intelligence can't be an inventor, but the discussion on the relationship between AI and intellectual property law is far from over, and it's clear that technology is developing faster than the legal framework, says Stephen Carter at The ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ Works.
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New Reduced EPO Fees May Shift Applicant Demographics
The upcoming European Patent Office fee reduction scheme, aimed at helping smaller organizations access the patent system, is a positive step that could help shift the applicant demographic, which has typically been dominated by larger businesses, says Annabel Williams at Marks & Clerk.
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Mitigating And Managing Risks Of AI Use In Private Equity
While generative artificial intelligence has the ability to transform private equity firms and their portfolio companies, its deployment brings inherent risks, including those presented by the forthcoming EU AI Act, requiring appropriate risk management strategies, processes and policies to be adopted, says Barry Fishley at Weil.
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Aldi Design Infringement Case Highlights Assessment Issues
The forthcoming English Court of Appeal decision in Marks and Spencer v. Aldi, regarding the alleged infringement of design rights, could provide practitioners with new guidance, particularly in relation to the relevant date for assessment of infringement and the weight that should be attributed to certain design elements in making this assessment, say Rory Graham and Georgia Davis at RPC.
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Generative AI Raises IP, Data Protection And Contracts Issues
As the EU's recent agreement on the Artificial Intelligence Act has fueled businesses' interest in adopting generative AI tools, it is crucial to understand how these tools utilize material to generate output and what questions to ask in relation to intellectual property, data privacy and contracts, say lawyers at Deloitte Legal.
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Vodafone Decision Highlights Wide Scope Of UK's FDI Rules
The U.K. government’s recently imposed conditions required for its approval of Vodafone and Etisalat’s strategic relationship agreement under its National Security and Investment Act jurisdiction, illustrating the significance of the act as an important factor for transactions with a U.K. link, says Matthew Hall at McGuireWoods.
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What The EU AI Act Could Mean For Patent Law
As the EU Artificial Intelligence Act has now been endorsed by all member states, companies and patent owners with interests in the bloc may want to prepare for when the act enters into force, including by considering potential subject matter exclusions, says Terence Broderick at Murgitroyd.
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Considering A Practical FRAND Rate Assessment Procedure
As the debate over a fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory rate continues inside and outside courtrooms, a practical method may assess whether the proposed FRAND rate deviates significantly from what is reasonable, and ensure an optimal mix of assets for managers of standard-essential patent portfolios, says consultant Gordon Huang.
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How AI Inventorship Is Evolving In The UK, EU And US
While the U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision in Thaler v. Comptroller-General is the latest in a series of decisions by U.K., U.S. and EU authorities that artificial intelligence systems cannot be named as inventors in patents, the guidance from these jurisdictions suggests that patents may be granted to human inventors that use AI as a sophisticated tool, say lawyers at Mayer Brown.
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Cos. Should Plan Now For Extensive EU Data Act Obligations
The recently enacted EU Data Act imposes wide-ranging requirements across industries and enterprises of all sizes, and with less than 20 months until the provisions begin to apply, businesses planning compliance will need to incorporate significant product changes and revision of contract terms, say Nick Banasevic, Robert Spano and Ciara O'Gara at Gibson Dunn.Â
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UK Ruling Revitalizes Discussions On Harmonizing AI And IP
The U.K. Supreme Court's decision in Thaler v. Comptroller-General last month has reinvigorated ongoing discussions about how the developments in artificial intelligence fit within the existing intellectual property legislative landscape, illustrating that effective regulation will be critical as the value and influence of this sector grows, say Nick White and Olivia Gray at Charles Russell.