NIPC Law

Nucleus of 103P/Hartley as imaged during a spacecraft flyby Author  NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD   Licence  Public Domain   Source  Wikimedia Commons Jane Lambert Patents Court (Michael Tappin KC) Thaler v The Co mptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks ( Re Permission to Appeal) [2025] EWHC 3072 (Ch) (21 Nov 2025) In Thaler v The Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Mark s [2025] EWHC 2202 (Ch) (1 Sept 2025), Mr Michael Tappin KC, sitting as a deputy judge of the High Court, dismissed an appeal by Dr Stephen Thaler ("Dr Thaler") against the decision of Mr Andrew Bushell in Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks O/0764/24 of 24 Aug 2024.  I discussed that case in The Return of DABUS   on 7 Sept 2025. The case note summarizes the history of the litigation and links to other articles that I have written about DABUS ("Device for Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience") and the efforts of its...

  Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (HH Judge Hacon) easyGroup Ltd v Jaybank Leisure Ltd [2025] EWHC 3077 (IPEC) (21 Nov 2025) This was a claim for trade mark infringement.   easyGroup was the registered proprietor  of UK trade mark UK00002349891 , an image of which appears above. The mark was registered for goods and services in several classes, including "[r]ental and hire of… motorised vehicles, non-motorised vehicles… and means of transport; advisory and information services relating to the aforesaid services; information services relating to transportation services, including information services provided on-line from a computer database or the Internet." easyGroup Ltd ("easyGroup") complained that Jaybank Leisure Ltd ("Jaybank") had infringed its trade mark by supplying vehicle rental and sales services under the EASIHIRE sign. Jaybank denied infringement and alleged non-use of the mark by easyGroup.  The action came on for trial ...

Jane Lambert   Chancery Division (Mrs Justice Joanna Smith) Getty Images (US) Inc and others v Stability AI Ltd (Rev1) [2025] EWHC 2863 (Ch) (4 Nov 2025) I first mentioned this litigation in Copyright and Artificial Intelligence - Getty Images (US) Inc and others v Stability AI Ltd . on 12 Dec 2023. In that article, I discussed an unsuccessful application by Stability AI Ltd ("Stability") to strike out the claim by Getty Images (US) Inc. and others ("Getty") for copyright, database right and trade mark infringement and passing off under  CPR Part 24 and CPR 3.4  in  Getty Images (US) Inc and others v Stability AI Lt d [2023] EWHC 3090 (Ch) (1 Dec 2023).   Getty had alleged that Stability had scraped millions of high-quality photographic images of such subjects as world events, sporting moments, celebrities, architecture, nature and travel created by hundreds of thousands of photographers over many years and in which copyright was likely to subsis...

Chongqing Municipal People's Auditorium Author Iswzo   Licence CC BY-SA 4.0   Source Wikimedia Commons Jane Lambert Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Jackson, Arnold and Birss)  Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd and another v ZTE Corporation and other s [2025] EWCA Civ 1383 (31 Oct 2025) This was an appeal by ZTE Corporation and others ("ZTE") against the decision of Mr Justice Mellor in  Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Another v ZTE Corporation and others [2025] EWHC 1432 (Pat) (25 June 2025) to grant Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd ("Samsung"), the following interim declarations: "1. ZTE are in breach of their obligations of good faith under clause 6.1 of the ETSI IPR Policy. 2. A willing licensor in the position of ZTE, and in light of the undertaking given by Samsung, would enter into the interim cross-licence with Samsung on terms and including the sum to be paid by Samsung by way of royalty in respect of the interim licence period...