Technology

Thoughts

How the tech transfer scene is changing in Europe: an end-of-year fireside chat between Marco Morbidini and Andrea Alunni

Partner Dr Marco Morbidini meets Dr Andrea Alunni, Special Adviser to the Executive Director at the EUIPO, for an end-of-year fireside chat.

Analysis

IP in Sport – A game of branding and tech transformations, transfer and trickle-downs

In the highly competitive world of professional sport, technology delivers the marginal gains that can be the difference between success and failure. What role does IP play in this context?

Thoughts

The semiconductor materials bringing clarity to the metaverse

Since the rebrand of Facebook to Meta, there has been a lot of buzz around the metaverse and how it will impact our society. The extension of ourselves that we present in virtual spaces is quickly cha...

Technical Tips

Healthcare wearables – Five useful things to know about patenting their use (part 2: treatment by surgery or therapy)

As discussed previously, recent years have seen an explosion in the field of healthcare wearables and patenting this emerging technology is of paramount importance to many innovator companies.

Thoughts

Kilburn & Strode feature in Healthcare Markets International - Patent protection in fertility innovation

Around 15% of reproductive-aged couples worldwide are affected by infertility. This field is a consistent focus for research and development. However, technology surrounding IVF remains difficult.

Food and Drink

Spice up your life: intellectual property for the recipe revolution

With recipe repertoires growing post-pandemic, and an increased trend for buying recipe kits, intellectual property is of ever-increasing importance in the food industry.

Analysis

Do semiconductor patent strategies need to swing towards Europe?

As focus grows on the robustness of the semiconductor supply chain, Europe is looking towards increasing market share over the coming decade. For patent strategies, this likely means only one thing: s...

Analysis

Improving the enforceability of patents in the semiconductor sector

Generally, it is not possible simply to look at a semiconductor device and discern how it works – at least not with the naked eye. When considering patent protection for innovations in the sector, pra...

Food and Drink

Eating in a cashless, virtual world: how has the COVID-19 pandemic changed how we buy our food?

Answering the need for social distancing, an ever increasing number of grocery stores and restaurants adopt cashless technology to keep their customers safe in a COVID-19 world.

Food and Drink

Don’t be afraid of the dark: how has the COVID-19 pandemic changed where our food comes from?

The pandemic saw the rise of dark stores (such as Getir, Weezy and Gorillas Grocery). They're local fulfilment centres where grocery retailers are able to store their produce and distribute therefrom.

Thoughts

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 winners from a patent perspective

The winners of the 2021 Chemistry Nobel Prize were announced as Benjamin List and David MacMillan for their development of “a precise new tool for molecular construction: organocatalysis”.

Technical Tips

Healthcare wearables – Five useful things to know about patenting their use (part 1: diagnostic uses)

The wearable medical device market is expected to reach over US $47,000 million by 2026 and the current COVID crisis has only driven innovation in this area.

Thoughts

Changing the game: Tomorrow’s tech in the video game space (2021)

Happy National Video Games Day 2021! To celebrate, I am again combining my main areas of interest in life, patents and video games, to take a look at recent patent trends in video game technologies.

Thoughts

From Titanic to the Internet of Things – the role of patents in communication technology

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought home how much we rely on communication technology. Innovations ranging from fibre broadband to 5G and from video calls to cloud file storage help people keep in touc...

News

Why standard essential patents are now essential to you

As a patent attorney I have been involved in the world of mobile telecommunications and standard setting organisation proceedings for coming up for 25 years of my life now so it has taken up a large p...

Case law

A patentable computer program could only be one button press away

We have published the following article in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practice reporting the decision in Lenovo (Singapore) v Comptroller

Case law

Patenting video games in Europe – the EPO’s Board of Appeal decide in favour of Nintendo (T1504/17)

The video game industry is hugely competitive and finding success involves significant investment in innovation. Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series S and X have each been seven years in ...

Thoughts

World Diabetes Day - Why Innovation Matters for Type 1 Diabetes

I’m reminded of technology every day. This isn’t because I’m a patent attorney. It’s because it keeps me alive. As someone living with type 1 diabetes in 2020, I’m fortunate to have an insulin pump, ...

Thoughts

Marathon musings – patenting running watch algorithms in Europe

While many marathons (including Boston, New York and San Francisco) went completely virtual this year amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the delayed London Marathon was one of a small number to go ah...

Thoughts

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 Winners from a Patent Perspective

Further to my recent article about the 2020 Nobel Prize announcements, the winners of the 2020 Chemistry Nobel Prize were announced as Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna on 7 October 2020 "for...

Thoughts

Nobel Prize 2020: A Chemistry Patent Attorney’s View

The Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Literature and Peace were first awarded in 1901 after being established in the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895. As patent attorneys, it’s easy to get ...

Thoughts

Essential guidance on patenting software-based inventions at the EPO - Part 2

Following on from our analysis of T 697/17 and the guidance to consider when drafting a new software related application, we analyse recent decision T 1749/14 and outline what steps you should take to...

News

EPO refuses to name machine as legal inventor

The EPO has now issued its first-instance decision refusing the DABUS applications in which the applicant tried to specify DABUS, a computer program, as the inventor of two European patent application...

Thoughts

Are you building a culture of innovation?

Creating a culture of innovation, being open to change and opportunity, and capitalising on new ideas can all act as catalysts for that change to happen. The groundwork needs to be laid and those who ...

Thoughts

Capturing innovation: A snapshot of the magic mix

In our article Innovation Capture 101, we show how mastering the basics of invention capture can help organisations achieve competitive advantage and long-term business success. The practical tips dis...

News

“The UK Patents Act leaves no doubt that an inventor is a person…”

Alex Korenberg, Partner & AI Expert, comments on the recent response from the UK patent office whether an AI can be named an inventor.

News

Prioritising the Priority Claim

The Board of Appeal (BoA) recently issued its preliminary comments in preparation for Oral Proceedings in, arguably, the most high profile appeal at the EPO in recent years (T 0844/18).

Thoughts

Innovation Capture 101

How knowing the basics of innovation capture can lead to competitive advantage and long-term business success.

Thoughts

Mastering the business of patents

How understanding the stable EPO approach to patent eligibility for business method and software inventions could improve your success rates in Europe, the US and beyond

Thoughts

Changing the game: Tomorrow’s tech in the video game space (2019)

It’s National Video Game Day! To celebrate, we’re exploring innovation in this exciting area by taking a look at patent trends in video game technologies at the European Patent Office (EPO).

Thoughts

Gender disparity in innovation

Associate Emily Collins from our Technology team has published an article in IP Magazine titled “Gender disparity in innovation”.

Thoughts

The era of IP Practice 3.0

We’re all beginning to see the impact of artificial intelligence tools across aspects of work, leisure and travel. The focus of the third and final article in our series on AI and IP is therefore: how...

Thoughts

Femtech: The next big market disruptor is here, and it’s fearlessly female

Femtech, or Female Technology, is the merging of modern technology and women’s health to address age-old issues. The market is booming, and it’s long overdue. Here we look at the recent market growth...

Gamechangers 2019

Inventions, Innovators and IP

In the last few years technology has evolved to a new level, and society needs to take a breather to make sure it’s happy with what’s coming next.

Gamechangers 2019

Plastic waste: cost or opportunity?

Against a backdrop of over 300 million tonnes of worldwide plastic production annually, with some plastics taking 400 years or more to break down, the planet is facing a significant crisis of plastic ...

Gamechangers 2019

5G – It’s about time (delays)

For many years, efforts have been made to collaboratively improve and harmonise the technical standards that underpin global telecommunication networks, such as 3G and 4G.

Gamechangers 2019

Robots on the rise

A tale as old as time is our obsession with machines. Based on the notion that our bodies are essentially (complex) machines, scientists and engineers have been trying to overcome the limits of our bo...

Gamechangers 2019

Protecting the protector: The intersection of IP and Immuno-Oncology

Immunotherapy uses the body’s natural immune system to fight cancer, rather than direct killing of cancer cells with chemo/radiation therapy, which can lead to undesirable reduced immunity and may not...

Thoughts

Patents versus prizes: A Nobel case study

Is the patent system the best way to incentivise innovation? This has been a longstanding question in scientific and technological spheres. Patents enable companies and institutes to see a return on t...

Thoughts

Ingenious machines: Inventive Step and the Fourth Industrial Revolution

It is a requirement of most, if not all, patent systems that an invention should be non-obvious over the state of the art in order to warrant patent protection.

News

Broad Institute wins CRISPR Appeal

This week saw the latest instalment in the now infamous multijurisdictional CRISPR patent war between two heavyweight academic institutions, the Broad Institute and the University of California - a wi...

News

Novelty of overlapping ranges before the UK Courts - Jushi v OCV

The use of numerical ranges in patent claims is common in many technological fields. The question of novelty of a numerical range over a range disclosed in the prior art is often faced and, in particu...

Thoughts

Inventions that made the modern running shoe

With the London Marathon just around the corner, Gregory St Clair Jones and Nico Cousens take a look at some of the many inventions that have shaped the modern running shoe we know today.

Thoughts

Strut of the drones: fireworks to fashion

Over the last few weeks drones have been swarming our headlines.

News

The pharmacy exception: recent developments in the Netherlands

Following discussion and recent recommendations from the Dutch Parliament, the Dutch Minister of Health has started an investigation into the laws relating to patents and medicines. Read our article o...

Thoughts

IP Rights: Where Does the Internet Stop?

Gwilym Roberts gives his view of the recent Canadian case which raises a wide range of jurisdictional issues for IP and tech lawyers. IP is proving to be a valuable test-bed for resolving the rising t...

News

Microbiological inventions – a gut feeling…

The rapid development of biotechnology since the 1970s has enabled this field to emerge as one of the most innovative and promising areas of scientific research.The inclination towards healthy eating ...

News

'More than just a game' - the Queen Mary University conference on gaming law

Our Chairman, Gwilym Roberts, reflects on his day at the 'More than just a game' seminar by Queen Mary University of London on gaming and interactive entertainment law.

Thoughts

Blockchain Buzz

Partner, Gareth Fennell, shares his thoughts on the blockchain buzz and what innovators should be doing about it now and when to seek advice.

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