NIPC Law

Lufthansa Technik's Hangar at Frankfurt Airport Author Franzffm   Licence CC BY-SA 3.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Patents Court (Mr Justice Leech) Lufthansa Technik AG v Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems and Another [2025] EWHC 375 (Pat) (21 Feb 2025) Lufthansa Technik AG v Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems and Another (Re Interest) [2025] EWHC 1034 (Pat) (30 April 2025) This was a proceeding known as an "account of profits".  Its purpose was to determine the profits that Astronics Advanced Electronics Systems ("Astronics"), Safran Seats GB Zodiac Seats UK Limited ("Safran") and Panasonic Avionics Corp ("Panasonic") had gained from infringing  European Patent (UK) 0 881 145 B1  ("the patent"). The transcript of the proceeding was very long, consisting of 693 paragraphs and an appendix. The Actions  The account was the second stage of actions that Lufthansa Technik AG ("Lufthabsa") had launched again...

Latvia from Space Author  S eaWiFS Project, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, and ORBIMAGE Public Domain   Source     Jane Lambert Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Arnold and Nugee and Lady Justice Falk) Playtech Software Ltd v Realtime SIA and another [2025] EWCA Civ 1472 (21 Nov 2025) This was an appeal by Realtime SIA ("Realtime") and Igors Veliks ("Mr Veliks") against Mr Justice Thompsell's order of 24 Jan 2025 dismissing their challenge to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales in respect of claims for alleged breach of confidence and copyright infringement made by  Playtech Software Ltd ("Playtech") for the reasons given in his judgment in Playtech Software Ltd and another v Games Global Ltd and others [2024] EWHC 3264 (Ch) of18 Dec 2024. The Parties Playtech is a member of a group of companies that designs, develops and supplies online gambling games and associated software.   Another member of the group is a Latvian com...

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...