1) AI and copyright come together in ‘absurd’ complaint
Our most popular story covered legal action that the Association of American Publishers (AAP) filed against Audible, an Amazon-owned audiobook producer, in August. Some lawyers criticised the “absurd” nature of the case, in which the AAP sought to prevent Audible from rolling out a new service that provides machine-generated text to accompany recordings.
2) Should I stay or should I go? Private practice v in-house
Next up was our three-part series on the differences between private practice and in-house life. We spoke to a range of lawyers on both sides of the fence to find out what motivates them and what, if anything, would encourage them to switch over. Work-life balance and the pay gap were two of the main issues covered.
3) EPO to consider decade-old law on computer patentability
In third place was our report on an upcoming case at the EPO (G1/19). The EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal is to consider 13-year-old case law on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions in a dispute that has attracted a flurry of input from industry associations, professionals and businesses, including IBM, Siemens and Philips.
4) UKIPO: UPC before Brexit ‘no longer possible’
Brexit featured in our fourth most-read story, after the UKIPO said that the Unified Patent Court (UPC) could not come into operation before Brexit this month. Luke McDonagh, senior lecturer at City University in London, told us that if there is no deal, there is “very little chance the UK will remain in the UPC”.
5) Brexit: IP one of the ‘least affected’ areas
It was all about Brexit again in our fifth most popular story, which came live from the AIPPI World Congress in London. Panellist Ewan Nettleton, senior patent counsel for oncology at Novartis in Switzerland, said he was very pleased with the provisions made by the UKIPO in preparation for Brexit.