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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.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • June 12, 2025

    Christian Group Can't Register 'He Gets Us' As EU TM 

    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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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."

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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' intellectual property, claiming that Getty has failed to point to any instances of real world infringement. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • June 06, 2025

    Getty Case To Set Stage For AI Copyright Law

    The High Court is set to hear on Monday Getty's copyright claim over the use of its images to train Stability AI, a first-of-its-kind case that will set the stage for how the new technology intersects with intellectual property law.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Inventorship Patent Options After UK Supreme Court Ruling

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    The U.K. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Thaler v. Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks that an AI system cannot be an inventor raises questions about alternative approaches to patent protection for AI-generated inventions and how the decision might affect infringement and validity disputes around such patents, says David Knight at Brown Rudnick.

  • Acquisition Of AI Tech Poses Challenges For Media Industry

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    The artificial intelligence regulatory landscape is changing quickly, and media and entertainment companies planning to acquire AI technology through a merger, acquisition or licensing deal should be mindful of potential new compliance requirements and AI-specific insurance products, say lawyers at Covington.

  • Cos. Should Weave Metaverse Considerations Into IP Strategy

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    In light of the increasing importance of intellectual property protection in digital contexts, including a growing number of court rulings and recent updates to the classification of digital assets, companies should include the metaverse as part of their trademark strategy to prevent potential infringements, says Gabriele Engels at D Young & Co.

  • Mitigating Compliance And Litigation Risks Of Evolving Tech

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    Amid artificial intelligence and other technological advances, companies must prepare for the associated risks, including a growing suite of privacy regulations, enterprising class action theories and consumer protection challenges, and proliferating disclosure obligations, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

  • Major EU AI Banking Ruling Will Reverberate Across Sectors

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    Following the European Court of Justice's recent OQ v. Land Hessen decision that banks' use of AI-driven credit scores to make consumer decisions did not comply with the General Data Protection Regulation, regulators indicated that the ruling would apply broadly, leaving numerous industries that employ AI-powered decisions open to scrutiny, say lawyers at Alston & Bird.

  • English Could Be The Future Language Of The UPC

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    While most Unified Patent Court proceedings are currently held in German, the recent decisions in Plant-e v. Arkyne and Amgen v. Sanofi potentially signal that English will be the preferred language, particularly in cases involving small and medium enterprises, say lawyers at Freshfields.

  • Arbitration Remains Attractive For Digital Disputes In 2024

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    Recent regulatory and digital forum developments highlight that, in 2024, arbitration will continue to adapt to new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, and remain an attractive forum for resolving digital disputes due to its flexibility, confidentiality and comparative ease to enforce cross-border awards, says Peter Smith at Charles Russell.

  • US And UK Law Firms Continue Trend Of EU Expansion

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    A broad spectrum of U.S. and U.K. law firms are now seeking fresh opportunities in Europe's fastest growing and constantly evolving sectors by opening offices in strategic locations across the continent, says James Lavan at Buchanan Law.

  • Looking Ahead At AI Regulation In The EU And UK

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    With AI regulation agreed upon in Europe and a U.K. regulatory authority on the horizon, organizations developing AI should consider deploying governance, addressing accountability and establishing internal guardrails to achieve a balanced approach to responsible innovation while managing risk, says Chris Eastham at Fieldfisher.

  • 2024 Will Be A Busy Year For Generative AI And IP Issues

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    In light of increased litigation and policy proposals on balancing intellectual property rights and artificial intelligence innovation, 2024 is shaping up to be full of fast-moving developments that will have significant implications for AI tool developers, users of such tools and rights holders, say lawyers at Mishcon de Reya.

  • The Most-Read Law360 UK Guest Articles Of 2023

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    Benefits of the new EU Unified Patent Court, artificial intelligence regulation and M&A trends amid rising inflation were among the hot topics U.K. Expert Analysis articles explored this year.

  • 9 Takeaways From The UPC's First 6 Months In Session

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    Six months after its opening, the Unified Patent Court has established itself as an appealing jurisdiction, with its far territorial reach, short filing deadlines and extremely quick issuance of preliminary injunctions showing that it is well-prepared to provide for rapid legal clarity, says Antje Brambrink at Finnegan.

  • The Year In FRAND: What To Know Heading Into 2024

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    In 2023, there were eight significant developments concerning the fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory patent licensing regime that undergirds technical standardization, say Tom Millikan and Kevin Zeck at Perkins Coie.

  • How Int'l Student-Athlete Law Would Change The NIL Game

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    Recently proposed legislation to allow international student-athletes the opportunity to profit from their name, image and likeness without violating their F-1 nonimmigrant student visa status represents a pivotal step in NIL policy, and universities must assess and adapt their approaches to accommodate unique immigration concerns, say attorneys at Phelps Dunbar.

  • Series

    Children's Book Writing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Becoming a children's book author has opened doors to incredible new experiences of which I barely dared to dream, but the process has also changed my life by serving as a reminder that strong writing, networking and public speaking skills are hugely beneficial to a legal career, says Shaunna Bailey at Sheppard Mullin.

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