UPC Court of Appeal backs document access
The Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court has dismissed Ocado's appeal against a decision to grant a member of the public access to court documents, in what was a closely watched dispute with transparency implications.
The court said that when weighing a direct interest against the general interest of the integrity of proceedings, the balance will “generally be in favour of granting access to the written pleadings and evidence of such proceedings”.
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Fees flexibility draws IP quintet to Merchant & Gould
A group of five senior lawyers were inspired to join intellectual property boutique Merchant & Gould because of the pricing flexibility that the firm can offer clients.
Merchant & Gould announced on April 10 that it had hired a team of five lawyers from IP firm Oblon to join its Washington DC area office. The group consists of partners Daniel Pereira, John Kern, Eric Schweibenz, and Donald McPhail, as well as of counsel Alexander Englehart.
Pereira was managing partner and led the chemical practice group at Oblon, while Kern led the electrical and mechanical group. Schweibenz managed the litigation practice.
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Other articles published on Managing IP this week include:
Pearce IP chief: generosity pays huge dividends
How law firms help technical experts pass the bar
Weekly take: INTA’s broadside against free riders raises tough questions
Trademark counsel weigh in on proposed USPTO fee hikes
Five minutes with… Joshua Harris, Burford Capital
Strategy Shifts? Counsel mull proposed patent fee increases
A UK first: Carpmaels & Ransford sets UPC precedent
Elsewhere in IP
Ireland’s UPC doubt
Ireland could postpone a scheduled referendum on whether the country should join the Unified Patent Court, Irish broadcaster RTE reported yesterday, April 11.
The broadcaster said Peter Burke, the newly appointed minister for enterprise, will bring a memo to the Cabinet next week outlining the next steps but that a June 7 vote now appears unlikely.
Huawei SEP deal
Huawei revealed that it had granted a cellular IoT standard-essential patents licence to metering solution company EDMI on Thursday, April 11. David Wang, head of Huawei's Asia Pacific IP department, said: "Huawei is pleased to reach this license agreement with EDMI, which will greatly promote innovations in traditional industries such as utilities."
AI guidance
The USPTO released guidance on the use of artificial intelligence tools when preparing patent and trademark applications on Wednesday, April 10.
“While the USPTO is committed to maximising AI’s benefits and seeing them distributed broadly across society, the USPTO recognises the need, through technical mitigations and human governance, to cabin the risks arising from the use of AI in practice before the USPTO,” the office wrote.
Apple appeal
Apple asked the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to reverse a US International Trade Commission decision to ban certain Apple Watches on Friday, April 5. The company claimed that the ITC had exceeded its authority by issuing an injunction.
“The commission compounded that fundamental error by issuing a series of substantively defective patent rulings. Apple respectfully submits that this court should correct the commission’s errors and ensure the agency observes the jurisdictional limitations Congress prescribed,” Apple wrote in its court filing.
AI bill
Democratic US congressman Adam Schiff introduced a bill to require companies to disclose the copyright-protected works they use to train their AI models on Tuesday, April 9.
Before releasing a new generative AI system, companies would have to notify the Register of Copyrights about all copyrighted works used in building or altering the system’s training dataset. The bill would also apply retroactively.
‘Top Gun’ copyright
The US District Court for the Central District of California dismissed a copyright case on Friday, April 5 that was filed against movie studio Paramount concerning ‘Top Gun: Maverick’.
The heirs of author Ehud Yonay, who wrote the article that inspired the original ‘Top Gun’ movie, argued that that ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ infringed the article’s copyright.
Mishcon hire
London-based law firm Mishcon de Reya announced that trademark partner Angela Fox had joined the firm on Wednesday, April 10. Fox joined from Maucher Jenkins.
