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...

Last Christmastide I blogged HH Judge Pelling's decision in  Bailey and another v Graham and Others [2011] EWHC 3098 (Ch) (25 Nov 2011) in "Is there any IP in Recipes? Reflections on the Reggae Reggae Case"  5 Jan 2012. I shall return to the theme this Christmastide to blog the appeal (or rather application for permission to appeal) in  Bailey and Another v Graham (aka "Levi Roots") and Others [2012] EWCA Civ 1469. This application came on before Sir Andrew Moritt, Chancellor and Lord Justices Longmore and Davis on the 16 Nov 2012. The first defendant Keith Valentine Graham is best known to the public as Levi Roots ,  He appeared on the TV programme "Dragons Den"  to promote his jerk sauce where he attracted £50,000 of investment.  Upon the insistence of his backers he incorporated the third defendant, Roots Reggae Reggae Sauce Ltd, which in turn licensed   G Costa & Co Ltd to make and distribute his sauce in accordance with his recipe, ...