United Kingdom: Patent

Nomio, a broccoli-based sports supplement gaining popularity among endurance athletes, has secured patent protection for its innovative use of sulforaphane to enhance exercise performance and treat metabolic conditions. This analysis explores how the company leveraged university research to protect both therapeutic and non-therapeutic applications of their simple three-ingredient formula, demonstrating that even products with common ingredients can achieve robust patent protection through novel use claims.

The UK Patents Court has upheld Novartis' patent and SPC protecting Entresto, its blockbuster heart failure treatment combining valsartan and sacubitril, rejecting all validity challenges from generic manufacturer Accord Healthcare. The judgment provides crucial guidance on plausibility requirements where experimental data have been generated but not fully disclosed in the patent specification, clarifying when qualitative disclosure of positive results suffices without detailed numerical data.

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to drug repurposing to accelerate development timelines and reduce risk, identifying new therapeutic applications for known compounds. This strategy offers significant clinical and commercial advantages, from faster patient access to extended product lifecycles, but raises complex questions about intellectual property protection and regulatory exclusivity. The article examines how second medical use patents and strategic IP planning enable innovators to secu

The Unified Patent Court's long-arm jurisdiction has emerged as a critical concern for manufacturers operating outside Europe, particularly those based in the US and China. Recent decisions demonstrate how corporate structure, European subsidiaries, and regulatory intermediaries can expose companies to pan-European patent litigation extending beyond UPC member states. Understanding these jurisdictional mechanisms and their implications for operations in non-UPC countries like the UK, Spain, and Switzerland

Liverpool has been named as a finalist for the World Intellectual Property Organisation's City of Innovation award, recognising the city's commitment to fostering innovation and creativity. The city region demonstrates particular strengths in life sciences, digital technologies, and advanced manufacturing, with support from organisations like Sci-Tech Daresbury and Knowledge Quarter Liverpool's KQ CLICK business support program.

The European Patent Office Board of Appeal's decision in T 0137/24 examines whether increasing percentage sequence identity thresholds in patent claims constitutes added matter and whether such claims meet sufficiency requirements. This case highlights the divergent approaches between European and US patent offices when evaluating biotechnology claims that define protein variants through sequence identity percentages combined with functional limitations.

Intellectual property diligence too often starts with the wrong question: how many patents does the company have? For venture investors, that is rarely the most revealing answer. The real issue is whether the founders understand IP as a strategic asset — something that protects ownership, supports freedom to operate, strengthens the commercial moat and increases the company’s value before the next funding round.

A recent EPO Board of Appeal decision establishes critical guidance for protecting AI-assisted engineering design innovations, ruling that patent claims covering only digital model generation cannot be expanded post-grant to include physical manufacturing steps. The decision clarifies that when AI generates product designs—from data center layouts to 3D-printed components—the patent strategy must explicitly bridge the gap between computational output and manufactured reality from the outset.

The UK has approved a marketing notice for the "Sunshine" tomato, a gene-edited variety engineered to contain elevated levels of provitamin D3. This milestone marks the first precision-bred tomato to receive approval under England's post-Brexit regulatory framework, bringing a new dietary source of vitamin D closer to commercialisation while demonstrating the practical implementation of the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023.