From coffee capsules to spray cans, the difficulty of relying on a staple product defence to infringement before the UK courts 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.
An Own Goal on Appeal... 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.
Beck Greener comment on Emotional Perception 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.
Beck Greener ranked in the Silver Tier once again by WTR 1000 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.
Update on the CRISPR-Cas9 IP saga at the EPO - blows for both the Broad & CVC camps but Toolgen ends 2025 with success 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.
Beck Greener ranked as a Leading Firm in The Legal 500 UK 2026 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.
Beck Greener patent team comprehensively praised in IAM 1000 2025 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.
