European Union: Intellectual Property

The Unified Patent Court has now processed hundreds of cases since opening in 2023, revealing emerging patterns in litigation success rates, procedural timelines, and forum preferences.

The Enlarged Board of Appeal at the European Patent Office is poised to resolve a fundamental question that has divided patent practitioners for years: must patent descriptions...

The Enlarged Board of Appeal will address fundamental questions about how patent claims should be interpreted using the description and drawings, and what this means for assessing whether amendments introduce added subject-matter. Three competing approaches have emerged in Board of Appeal decisions following G 1/24, each leading to different outcomes when determining if claim amendments extend beyond the original application.

When Ubisoft shut down servers for its 2014 racing game The Crew, players lost access to content they had purchased. This sparked a European Citizens' Initiative gathering 1.3 million signatures demanding publishers keep games playable after commercial support ends. The European Commission's response and its implications for digital content sellers across all sectors reveal critical obligations under existing EU consumer protection law.

Artificial intelligence systems train on millions of creative works without permission, sparking fierce debates about copyright infringement. This analysis examines six critical points where AI technology collides with intellectual property law, exploring what current legislation says about creators' rights in the age of machine learning.

Join industry experts as they explore the complex relationship between fashion and counterfeiting, examining how brands can protect their intellectual property while navigating the challenges of a global marketplace. This webinar will provide practical insights into combating counterfeit goods and safeguarding brand reputation in the fashion industry.

Longtemps protégée par des outils juridiques insuffisants, la porcelaine de Limoges bénéficie désormais d’une reconnaissance renforcée grâce à l’indication géographique européenne.

Luxury brands are expanding beyond traditional product categories into wellness, hospitality, and experiential services, fundamentally transforming how trademark protection must adapt. As fashion houses open cafés, beauty brands operate spas, and heritage maisons launch wellness programs, the legal framework struggles to keep pace with ecosystem-based diversification that challenges conventional notions of brand boundaries and distinctiveness.

Join industry experts as they explore the complex relationship between fashion and counterfeiting, examining how brands can protect their intellectual property while navigating the challenges of a global marketplace. This webinar will provide practical insights into combating counterfeit goods and safeguarding brand reputation in the fashion industry.

Luxury brands are expanding beyond traditional product categories into wellness, hospitality, and experiential services, fundamentally transforming how trademark protection must adapt. As fashion houses open cafés, beauty brands operate spas, and heritage maisons launch wellness programs, the legal framework struggles to keep pace with ecosystem-based diversification that challenges conventional notions of brand boundaries and distinctiveness.

The sports industry is experiencing a significant surge in intellectual property rights applications, reflecting growing commercial interests and innovation in athletic products, services, and branding. This trend highlights the increasing importance of IP protection strategies for sports organizations, equipment manufacturers, and related businesses seeking to safeguard their competitive advantages. Understanding these filing patterns provides valuable insights into market dynamics and emerging opportuniti

On 11 November 2025, the Regional Court of Munich I ruled that OpenAI’s language models unlawfully used song lyrics by nine German authors. GEMA, acting as the collecting society, claimed that OpenAI’s models had memorised and reproduced copyrighted lyrics without permission. Comparable collecting societies across Scandinavia – such as KODA (Denmark) play similar roles in protecting authors’ rights and are closely watching this development.