IP Litigation

Court of Appeal confirms requirement for human inventor in ‘DABUS’ case   On 21 September 2021 the Court of Appeal handed down its decision in THALER v COMPTROLLER GENERAL concerning allowability of UK patents having an AI based machine known as DABUS (short for Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience) listed as an inventor. A… Read more »

The Nagoya Protocol and the UK – are you compliant? The Nagoya Protocol has been in force in the UK since October 2015 and obliges users of genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources to comply with due diligence requirements before its ‘utilisation’. There is also an obligation to make a due diligence… Read more »

UK government faces challenges over future exhaustion of IP rights regime Brexit created ‘one way door’ policy for parallel imports, say AA Thornton partners Ian Gill and Dan Byrne This article was first posted by The Global Legal Post  as event coverage for Ian and Dan’s presentation ‘Exhaustion of rights’ for the Anti-counterfeiting World Summit…. Read more »

Using IP to effectively combat online celebrity endorsement scams As reported in the BBC recently, the National Cyber Security Centre (“NCSC”) has released its Active Cyber Defence Report for 2020. In that report it has stated that ‘celebrity endorsement scams’ are a relatively new type of scam in relation to which it has started performing takedowns…. Read more »

AA Thornton welcomes five candidates for Virtual work insight days 2021 Earlier this month, we were delighted to welcome five engaging candidates to our first virtual work insight days, including the great-granddaughter of our founding partner Alfred Augustus Thornton.  The two day event was an opportunity for the students to have a practical insight into… Read more »

AA Thornton support Admiral Group in successful sale of the Penguin Portals and Preminen businesses We at AA Thornton are very proud to have supported the superb team at Admiral Group with their IP and trade mark needs over many years and, in particular, to have recently assisted them on the IP side of the… Read more »

Trade mark rights IN THE RED! Automotive team member, Rachel Havard considers the CJEU’s recent judgement on genuine use of Ferrari’s TESTAROSSA trade mark.   The concept of “use it or lose it” We all probably need a bit of nostalgia in our lives, more than we ever did, and brand names/trade marks play a… Read more »

Brexit burn-out for the EUIPO Torpedo An often important element of the strategic considerations relating to claims in the UK for infringement of a registered EU right is due to be removed on 1 January 2021.   The Torpedo Article 132 of the EUTMR[1] states that EU trade mark courts shall stay an action for… Read more »

Legal update – UK IPO coronavirus response In recognition of the challenges individuals and businesses are facing amidst the coronavirus outbreak, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) has made certain temporary adjustments to its practices, to ensure that parties are not adversely affected in their dealings with the Office. It has also had to… Read more »

Artificial Intelligence – Our March 2020 report According to the European Patent Office, for the first time in more than a decade, digital technologies have taken the lead in patent applications filed. Among the top technical fields digital communication (+19.6%) and computer technology (+10.2%) saw the steepest growth. The report, published on the 12th March… Read more »