< Back to latest news & events

News

CIPA Journal: The UK says goodbye, Germany decides, the UPC says… ?

May 2020

As widely reported, CIPA was informed on 27 February in a personal telephone call to President Richard Mair by IPO CEO Tim Moss that the government will no longer seek to participate in the Unitary Patent (‘UP’) or Unified Patent Court (‘UPC’) system.

Despite the UK government having ratified the UPC Agreement back in April 2018, on World IP Day no less, for many such a decision to pull back is not entirely unexpected given the inevitable jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) over states participating in the new system. In this article, HGF Partner Leythem Wall discusses this in more detail.

Read the full article here.

This article was prepared by HGF Partner Leythem Wall. If you would like further advice on this or any other matter, please contact Leythem.  Alternatively, you can contact your usual HGF representative or visit our Contact page to get in touch with your nearest HGF office.

Latest updates

The EPO Board of Appeal comments on the scope of the morality exclusion from patentability

The recent decision, T1553/22 of the Board of Appeal required the Board to consider the scope of the exclusions from patentability under Article 53(a) EPC. The invention in this case …

Read article

HGF ranked highly recommended in the WIPR Trade Mark Rankings 2025

HGF has been recognised as a leading firm in the recently published World IP Review (WIPR) Trade Mark Rankings 2025. This achievement highlights our continued commitment to excellence in trade …

Read article

T1977/22: Can claims defined by open-ended ranges ever be sufficiently disclosed?

The EPO’s Board of Appeal’s decision in T1977/22 provides an interesting review of the case law concerning the compatibility of whole range sufficiency and claims defined as a result to …

Read article

The draft of The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations 2025 reveals practical details on how to obtain a Precision Bred Organism status

In a recent blog post we discussed the Precision Breeding Regulatory Framework developed by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Further details on the application process for Precision Bred Organism confirmation …

Read article

A £2.1M Lesson: The Power of Confidential Information

A recent High Court ruling1 serves as a stark reminder of the importance of respecting confidential business information. Hambro Perks, was found guilty of breaching confidentiality and ordered to pay …

Read article
Event - 6th March 2025

IQPC Global IP Exchange Europe 2025

HGF is sponsoring the IQPC Global IP Exchange Europe, which will be held on the 11th-12th March 2025 in Meliá, Berlin. Head of Electronics, Chris Benson, will be chairing the …

Event details

IP Ingredients: Pouring Over the Verdict: What Thatchers v Aldi Means for Food & Drink Brands

Readers of our IP Ingredients blog may recall that we covered something of this case last summer in our post IP Ingredients: Summer case law review. The dispute between Thatchers …

Read article