Inside IP Winter 2025

Welcome to our Inside IP Winter 2025 Edition!

As 2025 draws to a close, we are celebrating our first year since the combination and our top-tier recognition in Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Managing IP. Thank you to our clients, contacts and colleagues for your continued trust and support.

We hope you enjoy this edition, which offers timely insights on key sector trends and the latest developments in patents, trade marks, designs and IP litigation across Europe.

If you would like to discuss any of the topics featured or how we can support your IP strategy across the UK and EU, please get in touch with our team or your usual Venner Shipley contact. We are always happy to help.

Our perspective on…

Upcoming IPO fee increases from April 2026 
What you need to know about the UKIPO’s updated fees.

Wicked: For Good – The tale of the missing ruby slippers
Why Wicked’s slippers are silver: the IP story behind Dorothy’s iconic ruby shoes.

Formycon and Samsung Bioepis succeed against Regeneron in latest examination of the doctrine of equivalents
This decision adds further clarity to the doctrine of equivalents.

Long arm jurisdiction at the Unified Patent Court: Electrolux and beyond 
A look at the Electrolux decision and what it reveals about long-arm jurisdiction before the Unified Patent Court.

Magnetic Ball registered design invalidated by UKIPO
UKIPO invalidates a registered design for “3D Multi-colour Magnetic Balls”.

Absolutely not registrable series: Winter 2025
A run down of 2025’s big no no’s in the world of trade marks.

G 2/24 Enlarged Board of Appeal reaffirms that an Intervener at appeal cannot continue proceedings when all appeals are withdrawn
We look into the G 2/24 decision from the Enlarged Board of Appeal.

Exploring the curb cut effect and how it applies to inventions
Exploring how accessibility-led inventions have shaped the modern world.

Can your Trade Mark Attorney be replaced with AI? – Venner Shipley
The implications of the use of AI in the Prohealth Inc and Pro Health Solutions case.

From mouse ovaries to African frogs: the birth of the modern pregnancy test
How scientific curiosity (and a few inventive leaps) led to the modern pregnancy test.

Inventive step: the UPC forges its own test
The UPC has determined the test to be applied for the assessment of inventive step at the UPC.

A more open approach to AI patenting in the US
Recent USPTO decisions could make it easier to patent AI in the US. What that could mean for those developing or investing in these technologies.

Inside Venner Shipley

It has been a successful end of the year as Venner Shipley has been recognised as a Band 1 firm in Chambers UK 2026 for Intellectual Property: Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys. Congratulations also to our partners Ian Gill and Paul Derry who have been ranked Band 1 for trade marks and patents respectively.

We have also enjoyed coming together as a firm, with an Autumn quiz and Christmas celebrations rounding off another successful year.