Venner Shipley recognised in Legal Business Awards IP Team of the Year win

A joint team from Venner Shipley, CMS and Altair IP has won ‘IP Team of the Year’ at the Legal Business Awards 2026 for its work on the landmark UK Supreme Court case Emotional Perception AI Ltd v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks [2026] UKSC 3.

The award recognises the team’s work on behalf of the IP Federation and the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), preparing an intervention to assist the Court with the assessment of patentability of AI and computer-implemented inventions.

The intervention was principally drafted by Mike Jennings and Richard Kennedy of Venner Shipley and Simon Davies of Altair IP, with valuable input from CMS and significant contributions from members of the IP Federation and CIPA. Caitlin Heard and David Pountney provided guidance on the Court’s submission process and submitted the intervention.

It was a real team effort, bringing together patent, legal and industry expertise from across the profession.

The Supreme Court described the interveners’ written submissions as helpful and agreed with aspects of their analysis. The judgment represents an important development in UK patent law and brings the UK approach to computer-implemented inventions more closely into line with that of the European Patent Office.

Mike Jennings, Partner at Venner Shipley, said:

“It was a privilege to work on this project with Richard, Simon, CMS and UK industry leaders, and it is great to see this work recognised by the Legal Business Awards. It is particularly fitting to see Simon’s contribution recognised by this award, following 25 years leading the education and IP policy work of CIPA’s Computer Technology Committee.

Many thanks to IP Federation members for working so closely with us on the intervention and follow-up work with the UKIPO.”

Read more about the Legal Business Awards 2026 and the other winners on the Legal Business website here.