IP news & updates

In AGA Rangemaster Group Ltd v UK Innovations Group Ltd the Court of Appeal has provided useful guidance on the limits of the trade mark exhaustion defence where genuine branded goods are refurbished and modified by an independent third party.

In the recent decision of the UK Intellectual Property Enterprise Court in No Climb Products limited v Gas Safe Europe Limited (full copy of the decision available via this link: No Climb Products Ltd v Gas Safe Europe Ltd [2026] EWHC 908 (IPEC) (22 April 2026)), the judge needed to consider infringement of a claim covering a form of apparatus for testing a gas or smoke detector requiring both a spray container and a moveable spacer member whereby the apparatus is relatively compact when not in use but a minimum distance is maintained between the spray outlet and detector when testing is underway. The defendant (‘Gas Safe’) was held to infringe a valid claim by supply of its testing product ‘DetectaReach’® consisting of an aerosol spray can and a separable spacer.

In a recent decision, the UK High Court dismissed an appeal against an earlier decision of a UKIPO hearing officer finding claims 1 and 10 of a patent to be novel and inventive.

The recently handed down judgement of the UK Supreme Court heralds a new era in the law of patent protection in the UK for Computer Implemented Inventions (CII). It is unlikely that the ultimate result of examination of UK applications will be very different once (small details like) the approach to inventive step are worked out. The way we’ll get there though will be very different. Companies and inventors in this area will need to have this in mind when applying for patents in this area.

A battle between Pelican Healthcare and Salts Healthcare in the marketing of ostomy bags has now reached the Court of Appeal (Salts Healthcare Ltd v Pelican Healthcare Ltd [2026] EWCA Civ 93, 19 February 2026).

We’re on the up (again), having been ranked in the Silver Tier for both Enforcement and Litigation and Prosecution and Strategy in the 2026 edition of the World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000 – The World’s Leading Trademark Professionals. We are also Recommended for Transactions, the highest ranking awarded in that category.

Both the Broad ‘camp’ and CVC ‘camp’ (the University of California, the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier) have recently suffered disappointment at opposition oral proceedings before the EPO Opposition Division (OD) in relation to claims broadly encompassing use of Cas9 nucleases in eukaryotic cells. In contrast, Toolgen’s EP3346003B concerning delivery of Cas9 ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) to cleave plant cell DNA was upheld in November 2025 with reliance on a main claim merely requiring PEG-mediated delivery of a Cas9 RNP into protoplasts.

In recently issued Decision T0883/23 of EPO Appeal Board 3.3.07, the Board explained at length its decision to refuse priority entitlement for a European patent claim relating to treatment for a particular cancer. This was despite the claim wording being arguably clearly derivable from the earliest priority application (P1) with reference to a dose escalation/de-escalation study.

Beck Greener is proud to announce its promotion to Band Two in the Chambers & Partners UK 2026 guide for Intellectual Property: Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys (UK-wide).

Recently, the written decision of EPO Appeal Board 3.3.04 appeared which upheld Sanofi’s EP2493466B covering a cancer treatment for metastatic castration – resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) despite the earliest priority date being preceded by release of information on the relevant Phase III clinical trial.

Beck Greener is very pleased to report that we have once again been ranked as a leading firm in the latest Legal 500 patent and trade mark UK rankings. We are also pleased to have received a prestigious Client Satisfaction endorsement within the guide and are one of only 8 UK firms to have achieved this. This is an accolade awarded to only 10% of firms in each jurisdiction. For over 150 years, we have been solving clients’ IP problems, and client service and satisfaction are always a priority.

A recent Appeal Court judgment concerning the University of California European patent (UK) covering the prostate cancer drug enzalutamide and exclusively licensed to Astellas has resulted in generic versions of the drug remaining barred from entering the UK market.

The EWCA has recently provided a significant legal victory for Moderna in upholding validity of its European Patent (UK) no. 3590949 (EP949) concerning modified mRNA and thus infringement by Pfizer/BioNtech’s COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty®

Beck Greener LLP is delighted to announce that Graham Watt & Co., a respected intellectual property law firm with a proud history dating back to 1955, has joined our practice.

EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) decision G1/23 has clarified that a marketed product cannot be ignored as prior art on the basis that reproducibility was not possible by a person skilled in the art at the relevant date. This decision is of particular interest in relation to complex polymers and other complex products where inability of full characterisation prevents manufacture by others beyond the originator.

The Unified Patents Court has its own newly-drafted procedural rules, different from those in national courts.

The Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) has issued its decision G1/24 addressing how patent claims before the EPO should be interpreted when assessing patentability and in so doing has sought to harmonise approach before the EPO with approach of the UPC.

We’re proud to share that Beck Greener has once again been recognised in the Financial Times’ 2025 list of Europe’s Leading Patent Law Firms — marking our 7th consecutive year on this prestigious list since 2019.

In the recent UK High court case re Alexion’s EP (UK)3167888 [Samsung Bioepis v Alexion [2025] EWHC 1240 (Pat) , Alexion failed to overcome an error in the definition of their therapeutic antibody eculizumab - definition of the light chain of the antibody as consisting of a sequence designated as SEQ ID NO:4 but in fact specifying an extended light chain sequence with an additional 22 amino acid leader sequence.

The patent team at Beck Greener has been praised comprehensively by the researchers for this year’s IAM 1000 which identifies the world’s leading patent professionals. The commentary below includes quotes from our clients to whom we are very grateful for such glowing praise.