The UK Intellectual Property Office recently had to decide whether the invention in a patent application claiming the production of quantum bits (or qubits) was sufficiently disclosed. The Hearing Officer confirmed the decision of the Examiner that the description was deficient and the invention was therefore not capable of industrial...
German Utility Model
Germany is one of the top countries for the registration of utility models with 10577 registrations being filed in 2021. The regulations for the German utility model are outlined in the Utility Model Act (Gebrauchsmustergesetz) and the Utility Model Ordinance (Gebrauchsmusterverordnung). In Germany, a utility model can be filed to...
What is a Utility Model?
The “utility model” is an Intellectual Property (IP) right for protecting technical inventions which exists in some countries, like Germany, Austria, France, China, and Japan, but not in other countries, such as the US, United Kingdom, Switzerland, or Australia. It is similar to a patent right but is often used...
Ingredient Brands – Marken für einen Teil des Endprodukts
Endprodukte bestehen oft aus einer Vielzahl von Komponenten. Auch diese Komponenten sind in vielen Fällen markenrechtlich geschützt. Beim Kauf eines Endprodukts sind die Markennamen, durch die die einzelnen Komponenten geschützt sind, für den Endkunden oftmals nicht erkenntlich. Meistens liegt es auch nicht im Interesse des Verkäufers des Endproduktes, die Marke...
Music streaming in Germany – How fair is the remuneration of music creators?
In September 2022, Goldmedia GmbH presented a study on music streaming in Germany. The study was originally commissioned by GEMA (the German copyright collecting association). The turnover of music streaming services, also known as Digital Service Providers (DSP), continues to grow rapidly and the music industry hopes to be able...
Start Date for the Unitary Patent Court
According to a number of informed sources, it is likely that the new Unified Patent Court Agreement will be ratified by Germany in the next month and the Court will start operating on 1 April 2023. This is not confirmed and we shall keep you up to date. The preparations...
Musikstreaming in Deutschland – Wie fair ist die Vergütung der Musikschaffenden?
Im Auftrag der GEMA hat die Goldmedia GmbH diesen Monat eine Studie zum Musikstreaming in Deutschland vorgelegt. Die Umsätze von Musik-Streamingdiensten wachsen weiterhin rasant an und die Musikindustrie erhofft sich durch diese Dienste, auch im digitalen Zeitalter noch profitabel agieren zu können. 45 % der Deutschen nutzen mittlerweile Dienste wie...
Classifying Spam – not patentable in Europe
The challenges in obtaining European patent protection for inventions in the field of artificial intelligence have been highlighted in a recent decision by the European Patent Office’s Board of Appeal in dealing with a European patent application Nr. 14725807.3 by Google for “classifying resources using a deep network”. The patent...
Disclosing an Invention
The German Federal Court of Justice recently provided guidance on the level of disclosure of the invention required for a patent to be valid. The case (number X ZR 16/20 from 29 March 2022 - headlined "Übertragungsleistungssteuerungsverfahren") concerned a mobile communications system for communication between a base station and a...
How does the EUIPO deal with virtual goods, non-fungible tokens and the metaverse?
Companies are offering a wide range of products and services relating to Web 3.0. Many of these goods and services are completely new and no legal framework is in place on how to classify and deal with these products and services. This also includes Intellectual Property Rights as national and...