Latest blog articles

With AI’s recent breakthrough in machine learning, now more than ever inventors are looking for ways to protect AI systems. But obtaining patent protection depends on the right claims.

When compared to other countries, European researchers in the field of human embryonic stem cells maybe at a disadvantage. Because of the morality clause in the European Patent Convention, the EPO does not grant patents on human embryonic stem cell research.

A new copyright reform (Music Modernization Act) was passed in the US Senate in 2018, comprising reforms on the term of protection for works played through online digital music services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora. However, can copyright keep on being repeatedly extended? Is this...

Now is high time to prepare for life without the Appellate Body—hopefully it will only be temporary, argued Maastricht doctoral researcher Jens Hillebrand Pohl at a guest lecture he gave at Nagoya University, Japan, on 23 April 2019.

Electronics companies increasingly engage in patent aggregation, that is to accrue patents without using them for manufacturing purposes. So far, it is unclear whether such behaviour has negative effects on innovation. If it did, could EU competition law remedy it?

E-personhood is a term proposed in a draft report by the EU Parliament, about civil rules and laws on Robotics. This legal status aims at ensuring rights and responsibilities for the most capable AI agents. An intense debate about its usefulness is taking place in the EU.

The quality of a granted patent is dependent on the quality of the patent application. For the companies where scientists write their own patents, IP legal training for scientists can help improving their patent drafting skills.

The fashion industry needs strong IPRs for its development, however, a lot of divergences are found between the strategy imposed in this sector and the way the IP system is drafted, which often fails to benefit small companies.

The advancement of big data may lead to a revolution in the health sector by enabling the personalization of medicine. However, there are still uncertainties regarding the ownership of the data available, and also whether users should be entitled to compensation for the utilisation of their data.

The recent cancellation decision of the word mark “BigMac” by the EUIPO Cancellation Division has raised several questions:  is use of a trade mark on a website sufficient to fulfil the requirement of making genuine use of the mark? Or is evidence of sales required?