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...
Trade and Cooperation Agreement with UK Approved by the European Parliament
The European Parliament finally put its approval to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union on 28 April 2021 and the Agreement came into full effect from Saturday 1 May. The Agreement includes a number of measures on protection of intellectual property which we...
A Patent Grace Period for the United Kingdom?
The British trade minister Liz Truss recently announced that the UK is seeking to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade deal. The CPTPP includes a number of provisions on intellectual property (IP) and some of these will require changes to existing UK patent law. The CPTPP requires...
EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement
The European Union and the United Kingdom finally completed their negotiations on a trade and cooperation agreement on Christmas Eve. The published text is available both on the European Commission's and the UK government's website. It comprises 1246 pages of dense text including a number of annexes. In addition there...
Taking back control leads to GDPR hurdles in the flow of personal data to the UK
In May 2018, the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK’s Data Protection Act 2018 came into force. Embedded in the EU Digital Single Market Strategy, the GDPR regulates the handling of personal data of individuals (so-called data subjects) by e.g. companies or other entities engaged in economic...
Brexit and Intellectual Property
The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union raises a number of questions regarding the impact on existing and future intellectual property rights. The end of the Brexit transition period set out in the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland...