The IPKat BLOG – OPUS IP

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Securing market protection for cell therapies: Patents versus regulatory exclusivity

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/securing-market-protection-for-cell.html Cell therapies represent incredibly exciting science and the opportunity to treat previously intractable diseases. Cell therapies nonetheless face unique challenges in the pharmaceutical marketplace. One of these challenges is ensuring that the IP strategy for a cell therapy will secure return of investment for the product. For investors and... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG

US Court of Appeal confirms human authorship requirement, including for AI

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/us-court-of-appeal-confirms-human.html A Recent Entrance to Paradise Can a work that is presented as being entirely AI-generated receive protection under copyright law? The answer, unsurprisingly, is ‘no’. Earlier this week, the US Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld all previous decisions that had refused to accept copyright... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG

Apple variety infringement ruling sees record-breaking amount of damages in China

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/apple-variety-infringement-ruling-sees.html The Supreme People’s Court has confirmed that a New Zealand company was entitled to a record amount of compensation for the unauthorised plantings and sale of its ‘Scilate’ apple variety in China. The Court awarded RMB 3.3 million (£319,000) in damages along with an order that the defendant destroy all... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG

Never Too Late: If you missed the IPKat last week!

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/never-too-late-if-you-missed-ipkat-last_19.html Missed the Week’s IP Insights? Here’s a Quick Recap! Patents Rose Hughes discussed the importance of meticulous documentation in securing and defending intellectual property rights, highlighting how detailed records can be crucial in legal disputes. Rose Hughes examined the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC) evolving approach to added matter and... Continue reading
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[GuestPost] Mending fences or moving goalposts? The fine line of patent amendments in Ensygnia v Shell

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/guestpost-mending-fences-or-moving.html The IPKat has received and is pleased to host the following guest contribution by Katfriend Adanna Onah on a recent UK Court of Appeal decision concerning patent amendments and the limits of post-grant claim scope adjustments. Here’s what Adanna writes: The Court of Appeal’s decision in Ensygnia IP Ltd... Continue reading
In: The IPKat BLOG

General Court: Conceptual identity in different languages insufficient for likelihood of confusion

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/general-court-conceptual-identity-in.html The EU has 24 official languages and there is a significant number of people who speak further languages like Russian. This raises the question if signs are confusingly similar where one is the translation of the other. In a recent judgment, the General Court dealt with trade marks sharing... Continue reading
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Morley’s: Is the average consumer tired, hungry and intoxicated?

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/morleys-is-average-consumer-tired.html Copilot (prompt as Alt Text in image) In a judgment handed down, appropriately, on Friday last week, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by various proprietors of fast food outlets against a finding that they had infringed the trade mark rights of another, more famous, fast food franchise.... Continue reading
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GAME OF THRONES disqualifies Game of Döner from trade mark

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/game-of-thrones-disqualifies-game-of.html A few days ago, the Opposition Division of the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) issued a decision concerning the reputation of the trade mark “GAME OF THRONES”, owned by Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO), and whether the registration of “GAME OF DÖNER” should be refused under Article 8(5) of... Continue reading
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EU moves one step closer to gene editing regulation

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/eu-moves-one-step-closer-to-gene.html In a vote earlier today, the EU reached an important milestone on the road to a new regulation for new genomic techniques (NGT) for plants. After some changes to the EU Parliament’s proposed “patent ban”, the member states’ representatives endorsed the Council’s negotiating mandate. The Polish Presidency can now start negotiations with... Continue reading
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Late night BABEK – UK court upholds validity of kebab trade mark

http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2025/03/late-night-babek-uk-court-upholds.html The UK’s Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) has declined an attempt by a defendant (Iceland Foods) to invalidate a trade mark owned by the claimant (Babek) in an application for summary judgment. The judgment carefully considers some of the issues around how trade marks are described and presented on... Continue reading