Venner Shipley News
See below for a round-up of the latest VS news as featured in our Autumn/Winter 2022 Inside IP!
Venner Shipley crowned one of the winners of European Impact Cases of the Year at the 2022 Managing IP Awards
We have been awarded one of the European Impact Cases of the Year at the 2022 Managing IP Awards, for our work on G1/19 (EPO). The annual awards are presented to firms, individuals and companies behind the most innovative and challenging IP work of the past year, as well as those driving international markets. The European Impact Cases of the Year awards recognises standout cases across the whole of Europe that have created a lasting impression within the industry, driving change and influencing future decisions. Managing Partner, Pawel Piotrowicz has played an intrinsic role in G1/19, one of the most followed, high-tech European, Enlarged Board of Appeal cases held over the last two years. His early involvement and advisory role in the case means that he is the go-to patent attorney on the patentability of computer-implemented simulations.
IP legal case law roundup
Our legal team regularly provides updates on various cases covering a wide range of industries and technical areas. A round up of the most recent ones are:
• Entitlement and The Importance of Assignment Formalities – lessons from Jones v Irmac Roads
• C-C-C-Combo Breaker! – Combination products and the SPC regulation
• Only Fools and Copyright – Is there Copyright in Fictional Characters?
• Patents Court confirms power to grant injunctions for patents prior to grant – but not in this case, and maybe no others either…
• Expert Witnesses in Patent Cases – What’s Happening?
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Could your invention be in with a chance of a £1 million Earthshot prize?
Launched by The Royal Foundation of the Duke & Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge in 2021, the Earthshot Prize launches a global search for eco-innovators with solutions to the five ‘Earthshot’ goals every year between 2021 and 2030. These are simple but ambitious goals grounded in science, which if achieved by 2030 will improve life for us all for generations to come. Not only will the breakthrough emergent solutions help to repair and regenerate the planet, the Award will also nurture the eco-innovators to grow their impact.
The five winners chosen each year will be awarded a one million-pound prize, helping move forward at least 50 solutions to the world’s greatest environmental problems by 2030. The five Earthshot objectives and awards categories are:
• Protect and restore nature
• Clean our air
• Revive our oceans
• Build a waste-free world
• Fix our climate
The Prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism, by highlighting the ability of human ingenuity to bring about change, and inspiring collective action.
With the 2022 prizewinners announced, the nomination process for 2023 is about to kick off soon so it is a great opportunity to get your IP secured as alongside numerous other aspects intellectual property is one of them.
The Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), which is an official nominating body for the prize, plays a vital role in advising the Earthshot organisers on all intellectual property issues and states that: “Nominations must be beyond idea stage, have tested their solution in-field or with target audiences and must be at a ‘tipping point’ for scaling their impact within the next five years. Therefore, the best nominees will likely be close to the end of the patenting process, or already have patents in place.” This includes performing due diligence on the finalists and providing advice on intellectual property issues.
The Earthshot website outlines how: “The selection process will prioritise solutions that are beyond idea stage, with working prototypes or proven effectiveness, ready to be scaled or replicated rapidly. Nominations are assessed in terms of the inspiring stories behind them, their inclusivity, equity and benefits for humans, their impact on the Earthshots, and the ability for this impact to be scaled.”
We are keen to put our clients and contacts forward and whereas, the Earthshot Award should not be the only reason for protecting your intellectual property, the £1 million prize money is certainly an incentive and we are looking forward to providing you with a free initial consultation and put you forward for an award.
Want to join our team?
We currently have a number of different job opportunities available across our different offices and are always on the lookout for friendly and ambitious candidates. Check out our current vacancies here.
