The Patent Lawyer
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Europe lags behind in securing funding from intellectual property, new EUIPO report finds
Europe is strong in innovation and ideas, but the underuse of intellectual property (IP) as a basis for financing widens the gap with other global economies. Financial and market constraints push many innovative firms to relocate outside the EU. Stronger IP portfolios...
New digital patents services have launched
Today, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has launched a suite of new digital services to apply for, manage, or renew UK patents. The services launched today allow customers to apply for, manage, and renew UK patents in one place. This marks the next step in...
Businesses have weeks to beat a sharp rise in UK IP costs
A significant shift is coming for businesses that rely on UK intellectual property rights. From 1 April 2026, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) will implement its biggest fee increase for some time (trademark fees have been unchanged since 1998, design fees...
Build vs buy your AI? What patent firms need to know before deciding
The question has moved from law firm strategy meetings into urgent territory: should we build our own AI solution, or buy one? It's a fair question—and for most patent practices, the answer is clearer than it might first appear. AI is no longer a curiosity in the...
US Patent Office modernizes design patent examination for computer-generated designs
For more than 30 years, the United States has granted design protection for computer-generated designs such as graphical user interfaces and icons. These designs have traditionally been deemed a “surface ornamentation” design on a “display screen,” which serves as the...
Proposed “reasonable pricing” march-in factor risks chilling innovation in attempt to leverage Bayh-Dole to lower drug prices
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently published a Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights (framework). The framework instructs federal agencies to consider “unreasonable pricing” as a factor in...
Businesses save record amount of corporation tax through Patent Box scheme: £1.4 billion in relief in just a year
Relief could be made more generous to encourage innovation UK companies spending on R&D still lags behind the United States, Germany, and Japan The amount of tax saved by businesses through HMRC’s Patent Box scheme has increased by 23% over the last five years,...
USPTO issues inventorship guidance on AI-assisted inventions
The USPTO recently issued inventorship guidance for inventions assisted by artificial intelligence (AI). The guidance explains that “AI-assisted inventions are not categorically unpatentable.” However, a natural person must have provided a “significant contribution”...
Banning patents on plants produced by NGTs could damage innovation and jobs in Europe
Biotechnology is one of the key technologies with a significant potential to boost Europe’s competitiveness, whilst providing solutions that contribute to reaching the EU’s sustainability ambitions, according to many including the EU Commission. A new regulation for...
UK IPO publishes update and forward look on SEPs work
Standards and standard essential patents (SEPs) are of growing importance to the UK economy and the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is committed to ensuring the current SEPs framework functions effectively to encourage innovation and promote competition. In the...
Strategic battlegrounds: Intel’s high stakes IP litigation in the German court
The recent legal skirmish between Intel and R2 Semiconductor in a German court is a call to action for a strategic re-evaluation of how companies manage their most valuable assets: intellectual property (IP). As an IP consultant and inventor of over 100 patents, I...
The EPO’s new fee structure to provide 30% fee discount for small applicants
The European Patent Office (EPO) recently announced a revised fee structure that will allow applicants who are deemed to be 'microenterprises' to receive a 30% reduction on many of the EPO's official fees. The new fee structure intends to promote access to the...
EPO updates guidelines for examining AI inventions
The European Patent Office (EPO) has released a draft of its new Guidelines for Examination, which will come into effect on 1 March 2024. The new guidelines include some important updates to the EPO’s practice for examining inventions in the fields of artificial...
Another milestone in China’s implementing regulations of patent law
The Implementing Regulations and Examination Guidelines came into force in January this year. The new regulations have optimized the previous version in aspects such as application, examination, enforcement, and protection. These optimizations should make applying for...
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