News from the world of patent and trademark law

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Up-to-date, cross-sectional, global: The Grünecker blog delivers everything you need to know about the latest changes in the law, judgments, and trends. As one of the world's most active IP law firms, we keep you in the loop.

Our UK Patent attorneys Dr. Jegannath Korukottu and Dr. Josephine Caneilles discuss the latest decision regarding Artificial Neural Networks (ANN).

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Dr. Markus Grammel explains the new EPO practice regarding sequence listings that are filed with divisional applications.

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Dr. Sabine Koch analyses the latest developments and advantages and disadvantages of communicating with the European Patent Office (EPO) via email.

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Rainer Bertram and Michael Döring take a look at the latest developments in the field of earlier publications of community designs.

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Dr. Jegannath Korukottu and Dr. Holger Gauss discuss the implications of the recent groundbreaking BGH ruling on Unregistered Community Design (UCD) rights.

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Dr. Sabine Koch analyses the difference between the terms "Fachmann" and "Fachperson" and takes a look at the latest developments regarding these terms in German courts.

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A new global sequence listing standard of the World Intellectual Property Organization will come into force on 1 July 2022. Dr. Markus Grammel and Dr. Elena Biselli give a comprehensive overview of the new standard and highlight the aspects that applicants need to put into consideration.

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In our recent blog post, we discussed the growing trend of AI-related patent applications. Now Dr. Martin Ahr and Dr. Josephine Caneilles take a look at the latest developments in the German Federal Patent Court on this topic.

 

 

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Victor Lopes Aguiar analyses whether there has been a growing trend in AI-related patent applications at the EPO or whether, we are still far from a particularly inventive technology boom.

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Martin Hackler and Sebastian Ochs explore the ECJ ruling on the requirements for validity of a patent in preliminary injunction proceedings.

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Stanislav Lechzier and Dr. Holger Gauss outline the dispute between a German show promoter and the world-famous singer Tina Turner related to the use of Turner’s name and the photo of look-alike on a promotion poster for a tribute show.

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The new Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office (EPO) came into force as of March 1, 2022. Dr. Markus Grammel analyses the implications on requirements for description amendments before grant which were introduced in 2021.

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Dr. Martin Ahr sheds light on the requirements for domestic representatives and explains how the Federal Patent Court and GPTO balance requirements with everyday practice.

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Mark Peters and Stanislav Lechzier take a close look at the Sales of Goods Directive and the Digital Content Directive that will be implemented into German law effective January 01, 2022 and the resulting changes to the German Civil Code (BGB).

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Dr. Sabine Koch highlights important amendments to the existing law that came into force with the Second Act of the Simplification and Modernisation of German Patent Law (“2. PatModG”).

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In the third part of the series “Navigating the EPO’s “problem-solution approach”, Dr. Markus Grammel explains the definition of the objective technical problem, which serves as a basis for how the notional skilled person analyses the prior art with regard to obviousness.

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Dr. Holger Gauss and Saskia Mertsching  take a look at  the regulations on when and how Instagram influencers need to mark their posts and give an outlook to the amended UWG that will come into force in May 2022.

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Emily Wilson gives a comprehensive overview of the study into the Music Streaming Market that will be launched by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

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In part II of this series, Tommy Großkreutz and Dr. Markus Grammel shine a spotlight on the closest prior art (CPA) and how it is selected.

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Mark Peters and Stanislav Lechzier summarize the requirements and important takeaways from court rulings now that the Trade Secret Act has been in force for almost 2 ½ years.

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In the first part of the series “Navigating the EPO’s “problem-solution approach”, Dr. Markus Grammel gives an introduction of the topic and its challenges.

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On July 7, 2021, the General Court rendered a decision on a EUTM application for a sound mark reminiscent of the sound made when opening a beverage can. Swetlana Frese analyses the decision and takes a look at previous judgments regarding sound marks.

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Dr. Jegannath Korukottu reviews the similarities and differences between the various design protections available in the EU and the UK.

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Dr. Markus Grammel analyses the advantages and disadvantages of so-called straw man oppositions before the EPO.

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Dr. Holger Gauss and Philipp Strommer take a look at Lindt’s iconic Golden Bunny which is now protected by a trademark acquired through use.

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The General Court of the European Union rendered a decision on an application for a three-dimensional EU trademark registration because the mark significantly departs from the norms and customs of the lipstick sector and has distinctive character. Jantje Agena analyses and comments the decision.

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The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO issued decision G 4/19 on the topic of double patenting. Dr. Sabine Koch analyses the decision and comments on its implications.

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The regional court in Hamburg recently issued a blocking injunction to Sony Music against DNS resolver Quad9. Dr. Nicolás Schmitz analyses and comments the novelty of the decision.

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Jantje Agena takes a look at the similarity of bicycles and motor vehicles in the context of a legal dispute between a trademark owner and a subsidiary of Peugeot SA over whether the use of a sign for motor vehicles constituted infringement of a trademark which was registered for bicycles.

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Tommy Großkreutz analyses the Opposition Division's decision to revoke European Patent EP 2 933 201 B1, which related to bottles made of plastic, in its entirety for not complying with Article 76(1) of the European Patent Convention.

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Mark Peters and Stanislav Lechzier analyse the changes to German copyright law that came into force with the Act on the Adaption of Copyright Law to the Requirements of the Digital Single Market.

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Björn-Alexander Bockelmann and Sebastian Ochs discuss the implications of the patent law reform that was adopted by the German parliament on June 11th.

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