IP Updates

Recent developments in the world of IP

These are very brief summaries of recent developments which may be of interest to our direct clients. Last updated: 28 November 2025.

UKIPO official fees to increase from 1 April 2026

The United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has announced that it will increase official fees for patent, trade mark, and design matters by an average of around 25% from 1 April 2026, subject to Parliamentary approval. While the percentage increase is significant, UK official fees remain relatively low compared with those of other jurisdictions (e.g. the European Patent Office, the PCT). As a result, the overall cost of obtaining IP protection in the UK is still comparatively modest for many applicants. However, renewal fees will also rise, which may have a more noticeable impact on the total cost of maintaining IP rights over their full term. [April 2026]

EU: Geographical indications (GI) for craft and industrial products

As of 1 December 2025, craft and industrial products will be able to fully benefit from EU-wide geographical indication (GI) protection under Regulation (EU) 2023/2411, adopted on 18 October 2023. This regulation creates a unified EU title to protect the names of craft and industrial goods across all EU Member States. Non-EU producers may also apply for protection, provided they meet the Regulation’s requirements. The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) is responsible for handling applications and registration, while the European Commission maintains the authority to decide on GI application approvals in specific areas. Existing national GI protections for craft and industrial products will expire in December 2026, i.e. one year after the new system comes into effect. [December 2025]

Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program at USPTO

Since late October 2025, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been running a pilot programme directed to evaluating how having a limited number of claims under examination impacts pendency and examination quality. The programme is called the Streamlined Claim Set Pilot Program. The gain for the applicant is accelerated receipt of a first office action. To qualify, pending patent application must have only one independent claim, no more than ten claims in total, and no multiple dependent claims. Applicants may bring their applications into compliance with the pilot requirements by filing a preliminary amendment. The applications meeting these and other requirements may be advanced out of turn for their first Office action. The participation in the programme appears to be subject to capacity limit. Nevertheless, this programme may provide faster progress towards US patent protection for eligible applications. [October 2025]

European patent applications – colour drawings

As part of the ongoing digital transformation at the European Patent Office (EPO), as of 1 October 2025 it is possible to file drawings in both colour and greyscale for all European patent applications and subsequent electronic filings. From 1 October 2025, the drawings filed electronically at the EPO in colour will be published in colour, i.e. without any processing into black and white drawings, which was previously the case. However, this does not yet apply to international (PCT) applications; and the drawings are still converted into black and white for the international publication. At least some other patent offices (e.g. Japan, UK) likewise do not currently offer colour publication.JL - EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) decides on continuation of appeal after withdrawal (G2/24 decision). [October 2025]

Publication delays at the UKIPO

Initial publications of patent applications (A publications) and publications of granted patents (B publications) are likely to be delayed due to a reduced publishing capacity of the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO), which is expected to last for at least six months.The UKIPO is currently undergoing an overhaul of their services in advance of the upcoming launch of the new One IPO system, which aims to unify all of the IPO’s existing services into one fully digital system. To ensure that there are no errors in the publication process during this overhaul, which includes a transition to a new internal administrative system, the IPO has introduced additional checks in the publication process and has temporarily limited the number of applications being published. As a result, there are expected to be delays in both A and B publications. However, it is not possible to say exactly how each case will be impacted on an individual basis.[September 25]

EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) decides on continuation of appeal after withdrawal (G2/24 decision)

On 25 September 2025, the EBoA issued its decision G2/24, confirming that after withdrawal of all appeals, the proceedings cannot be continued with a third party who intervened during the appeal proceedings. Accordingly, the appeal proceedings cannot continue with the intervener as the only appellant; after withdrawal of all appeals by the original parties, the appeal proceedings must be terminated. The EBoA further confirmed—unsurprisingly—that an intervener cannot acquire the status of appellant during the appeal proceedings. [September 2025]

JUPC granted ex-parte evidence gathering order

The Düsseldorf Local Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) granted an ex-parte inspection at a trade fair in the case UPC_CFI_834/2025, Ecovacs Robotics Co. Ltd v Roborock (HK) Limited. The Court granted the ex-parte order, finding Ecovacs’ arguments and evidence credible, and also determined that the inspection was urgently needed. Accordingly, Ecovacs was authorised to conduct an inspection of Roborock’s robot vacuum products at the IFA Berlin trade show, held from 5 to 9 September 2025. The order also permitted the gathering and preservation of evidence for use in proceedings against Roborock.[September 2025]

UK Signs Riyadh Design Law Treaty

The UK has become the latest signatory to the Riyadh Design Law Treaty. This should harmonise various aspect of international design law between signatory countries once it comes into effect. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-signs-riyadh-design-law-treaty

Montenegro accedes to the London Agreement

For European patents granted from 1 August 2025, it will no longer be required to submit a Montenegrin language translation of the full European patent specification, if the patent is granted in English or an English translation is supplied. It will only be required to submit a claims translation into Montenegrin. [August 2025]

Enlarged Board of Appeal decides how patent claims should be interpreted when assessing patentability in landmark decision G1/24

On 18 June 2025, the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal issued its long-awaited decision G 1/24 which concluded that the claims are the starting point and the basis for assessing the patentability of an invention, and that the description and drawings must always be consulted to interpret the claims for this assessment. It rejected using Article 69 EPC as a legal basis for this interpretation, stating it applies to infringement, not patentability. The decision resolves divergent case law by confirming that the description and drawings must always be consulted when interpreting the claims and not just in the case of uncertainty and ambiguity, thereby aligning EPO practice with the Unified Patent Court’s approach. [June 2025]

UK-India Trade Deal set to vastly improve the Intellectual Property landscape and legal certainty for UK rights holders in India

The India–UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which concluded in May 2025, is a landmark deal aimed at boosting bilateral trade by over £25 billion annually. The deal is set to reduce or completely remove tariffs on 90% of tariff lines which cover UK exports to India - including whisky, machinery, and food. It is also set to remove duties on 99% of Indian exports to the UK.

The deal includes a dedicated chapter on intellectual property rights (IPRs), aiming to:

• Improve patent procedures in India to increase efficiency, transparency and legal certainty in the patent system.
• Enhance protection for UK creators, rights holders and consumers, particularly in areas relating to copyright and geographical indications in India.
• Support digital trade and innovation ecosystems by aligning IP standards more closely with international norms.

This is particularly significant for UK businesses reliant on IP assets, such as pharmaceuticals, creative industries, and tech firms. It will hopefully provide greater legal certainty and reduce the risk of IP infringement in India’s large and growing market. [May 2025]

Updated EPO Guidelines for Examination 2025 issued

The April 2025 edition of the EPO Guidelines for Examination introduces key updates across patent examination procedures. Notably, it clarifies the use of AI tools, stating that applicants and representatives remain fully responsible for submissions, even if AI assisted in drafting (General Part 5). The AI and machine learning section (G-II-3.3.1) now emphasises that such inventions are patentable if they solve a technical problem using technical means. Additionally, the Guidelines now includes the fee reduction for micro-entities (A-X-9.4.1 and A-X-9.4.2) and the discontinuation of fax-based communication with the EPO (A-11-1.1.2), both of which came into force last year. [April 2025]

UKIPO launches new online patent search tool

The UKIPO's new online patent search tool is up and running and can be accessed here. The new search tool "One IPO Search" replaces the former search tool “Ipsum” and provides additional functionality including more search filters and an improved user interface. One IPO Search can be used to search for patents by application/publication number, applicant or owner, inventor, representation and by keywords. It is possible to select which status of patent you are looking for. It is now also possible to search for green channel patents and/or patents with licences of right. One IPO Search can also be used for searching Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs). [January 2025]

Uruguay joins the Patent Cooperation Treaty

PCT applications filed on or after 7 January 2025 may designate Uruguay, which becomes the 158th contracting party of the Patent Cooperation Treaty. [January 2025]

Entry into force of the 2025 version of the 12th edition of the Nice Classification

The 2025 version of the 12th edition of the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks (Nice Classification) entered into force on 1 January 2025. In order to adapt the classification to new trends, some terms have been deleted, changed or added. In Class 9, for instance, the term “security tokens being encryption devices” has been changed for the term “security token hardware for user authentication”. Another example is class 29 which now includes the following terms: “cut fruits”, “cut vegetables” and “tofu-based snack food”.  Here is a searchable version of the Nice Classification. [January 2025]

A European Patent may soon be extended to Costa Rica

The European Patent Office has signed a historical validation agreement with Costa Rica, which will become the first country in the Americas where a European patent will be able to take effect, if a validation procedure is followed. Validation countries already available include Cambodia, Georgia, Morocco, Moldova and Tunisia, with Laos having already signed a validation agreement, as the possible geographical scope of the European patent continues to expand. [December 2024]

Amendment of the UK Trade Marks (International Registration) Order 2008

To ensure UK compliance with Madrid Protocol obligations ahead of the 1 February 2025 deadline, the UK Trade Marks (International Registration) Order 2008 was amended as of 21 November 2024.  Domestic trade marks can now be partially replaced by international registrations, even when they only cover some of the goods and services listed in the domestic registration, contrary to previous practice.  [November 2024]

New Design Law Treaty (DLT) adopted by WIPO

On 22 November 2024, the Design Law Treaty (DLT) was adopted following negotiations at WIPO. The DLT aims to harmonise many procedural aspects of design protection worldwide, making design protection more accessible and affordable, particularly for individuals and SMEs. This new treaty, alongside the recent EU design law reform, highlights the importance of design protection globally. [November 2024]

UK Supreme Court condemns overbroad specifications in “SkyKick” judgement

On 13 November 2024, the UK Supreme Court ended the “SkyKick” saga by delivering its long-awaited judgement.  Whilst finding that SkyKick had infringed Sky’s trade marks, the Supreme Court found that Sky’s marks contained an excessively broad range of goods and services, which in this case was sufficient to constitute an instance of bad faith. Although such finding cannot invalidate the whole class nor the registration, it calls for trade mark owners to be cautious when drafting their specifications, which should accurately reflect their business activity.  [November 2024]

EU design law reform

On 10 October 2024, the European Council adopted two legislative acts to update the current design legislation. Changes include allowing for multiple design applications to be filed regardless of Locarno classification and the incorporation of new defences to infringement such as a now permanent “repair clause”. The current terminology of Registered Community Design (RCD) and Unregistered Community Design (UCD) will also be replaced with Registered European Union Design (REUD) and Unregistered European Union Design (UEUD). [October 2024]

Teva fined €462.6m for playing divisional game and leading disparagement campaign

Teva - the pharmaceutical company behind the blockbuster drug Copaxone used to treat multiple sclerosis - has been fined €462.6m by the European Commission. The Commission decided that Teva had misused the EPO’s divisional patent application filing provisions, creating uncertainty for entry to the market of generic drugs. The decision was supplemented by the company spreading misleading information about competitor products. [October 2024]

EPO Board of Appeal concludes no legal basis for requiring description amendments

Nearly a year after the Board of Appeal first considered appeal case T56/21 and the requirement to amend the description in line with the claims prior to grant, the Board have decided not to refer this case to the Enlarged Board of Appeal. The Board decided that “In examination of a patent application, neither Article 84 nor Rules 42, 43 and 48 EPC provide a legal basis for requiring that the description be adapted to match allowable claims of more limited subject-matter.” This decision is binding only on the examining division that issued the decision under appeal. It is not binding for other cases and there has been no update to the Guidelines for Examination regarding this. It will therefore be interesting to see whether a change in practice as regards description amendments is taken by other EPO examiners as a result of this decision. [October 2024]

Romania joins the Unitary Patent

On 1 September 2024, Romania joined the Unitary patent. Romania is now covered in new registrations of Unitary patents and the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court more directly relates to Romania. [September 2024]

UKIPO issues guidance over restrictions to trade mark specifications

On 17 July 2024, the UK IPO issued Tribunal Practice Notice 1/2024 which set out the rules to be applied on restrictions to specifications.  Importantly, the UK IPO stated that in the case of the restrictions resulting from a negotiation between parties, “[these parties] should consider whether recording such matters as a restriction on the register is appropriate, or whether they can be recorded in another form (such as a co-existence agreement)”.

Addressing a number of recurring issues, the UK IPO set out a series of rules and principles. The restrictions should, for instance, be drafted with sufficient clarity and precision. As such, the use of multiple layers should be avoided. Additionally, the restrictions should identify sub-categories of goods and services, not a characteristic, and they must make sense within the context of the specification, especially they cannot contradict other parts of the specification.  [July 2024]

Update to UK IPO guidelines for examining patent applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI) inventions.

The UKIPO has updated its guidelines for examining patent applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI) inventions. The updates come in light of the Emotional Perception AI Ltd v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks [2023] EWHC 2948 (Ch) judgement from November 2023. In particular, the updates to the guidance confirm that inventions involving an artificial neural network (ANN), whether implemented in hardware or software, are not excluded subject-matter for consisting of a computer program as such. It is noted that the Emotional Perception judgement is subject to appeal and UK patent law could develop further pending the outcome of the appeal. [May 2024]

Ireland to delay Unitary Patent/Unified Patent Court referendum

It had been hoped that Ireland would soon become the 18th EU country to join the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court. However, Ireland has determined that it's participation should be decided by a referendum and the referendum has been deferred from its originally planned date of 8 June 2024. [April 2024]

Update to electronic signatures accepted by the EPO for registering assignments and licences

Registering the recordal of an assignment or licence of a European application/patent involves providing the EPO with evidence of the transaction – typically a document signed by the parties involved.

From 1 April 2024, the EPO have simplified the signature requirements to accept a broader range of electronic signatures – namely digital signatures (e.g., an electronic signature using public key cryptography), facsimile signatures and text string signatures. This change also applies to the recordal of transactions involving unitary patents. [March 2024]

New European Patent Office Microenterprise Fee Reduction

The European Patent Office has announced a new 30% discount on official fees for micro-enterprises, starting from 1 April 2024. This coincides with the date when the EPO is putting through a fee increase of about 4% for most fees - but 30% for the first two renewal fees. There are rules that define which organisations may count as micro-enterprises, for example, they must have fewer than 10 staff. The discount is also available to private individuals, and non-profit organisations, universities and public research organisations. However, applicants may only benefit from this discount if they have filed no more than 5 European patent applications in the preceding five years. The new discount will be welcomed by micro-enterprises who are entitled to it. Please see our more detailed article on the EPO official fee discount for micro-enterprises for further information. [February 2024]

Accelerated opposition proceedings at the EPO

In November 2023 the EPO announced that opposition proceedings before it would be subject to accelerated processing where an infringement or revocation action relating to a European patent or to a Unitary Patent has been instituted before the Unified Patent Court or before a national court or competent authority of a contracting state. Specific acceleration measures, which will be applied by the EPO with immediate effect, also to pending proceedings, have now been published on the EPO website. One effect of these measures is that parties to the proceedings will be subject to rather stringent response deadlines. The mean processing time for an opposition procedure is currently below 20 months. It is to be expected that the newly introduced measures will significantly cut down the time taken for the EPO to issue a decision on an opposition case. [February 2024]

Validation agreement between EPO and Georgia enters into force

From 15 January 2024, a validation agreement between the European Patent Office and Georgia will enter into force. European applications filed on or after that date may be validated in Georgia. [January 2024]

EPO 10-day rule discontinued

From 1 November 2023, the so called 10-day rule has been discontinued. EPC rule 126 has been amended to remove this provision by which certain communications from the European Patent Office were deemed to be received 10 days after the date specified on the communication, which had the effect of extending various deadlines by 10 days. Reflecting the change to electronic communication methods, from 1 November 2023, all communications are deemed to be received on the date specified on the communication. There will remain a safeguard provision that if a communication is not received within 7 days of the date specified on the communication, certain deadlines will be extended by amount by which receipt is further delayed beyond the 7 days. [November 2023]

EPO Form 1201 ("Entry into European Regional Phase") discontinued

From 1 November 2023, the European Patent Office will discontinue the form 1201 letter sent to PCT applicants to inform them of the deadline to enter the European regional phase and to inform them of the European patent application number. This letter has been thought to be extraneous for some years and has caused confusion to applicants who were not expecting to receive a letter from the European Patent Office. [August 2023]

English language options before UPC extended

The German, French and Italian Courts have announced that English may be used as a language of proceedings before the Local Divisions of the Unified Patent Court in their countries. This will greatly assist the accessibility of the Courts as English is very widely spoken amongst representatives before the Court. A list of language options before Local and Regional Divisions is provided here. In actions before the Central Division (e.g. revocation actions) the language of proceedings will however be the language in which the patent was granted (English, French or German). [June 2023]

The UPC goes live!

The long-awaited new Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) came into effect on 1 June 2023. This is an exciting development for European businesses. Although the Unitary Patent and UPC do not cover the United Kingdom, we are pleased to be fully involved, including being representatives before the UPC, due to our status as European patent attorneys. [June 2023]

Change to UK Divisional Patent Application Compliance Deadlines

UK divisional patent applications with a filing date on or after 1 May 2023 will no longer inherit the compliance deadline of the parent application if that deadline has been extended under Rule 108(2)/Rule 108(3). Instead, the divisional application will always inherit the original compliance deadline of the parent application set out in Rule 30(2). Any extensions to the compliance deadline of the divisional application will need to be requested separately, even if the compliance deadline of the parent application was extended before the divisional application was filed. This increases time pressure towards the end of UK patent application procedure where divisional applications are contemplated [May 2023]

European Patent Office fee increases

The European Patent Office increased its official fees by 5% on 1 April 2023 due to inflation. Usually, the EPO only review their fees in even-numbered years and so this additional cost increase was not expected. [April 2023]

Change to UK trade mark opposition cost schedule

The UK IPO has increased the scale of costs which may be awarded to the successful party in oppositions and other inter partes matters before the Trade Mark Registry. Despite this increase, the scale remains relatively low compared to the costs which parties face in practice and are designed to be contributory rather than compensatory. [February 2023]

The Unitary Patent will come into effect from 1 June 2023

Germany deposited its instrument of ratification of the Unitary Patent agreement on 17 February 2023, triggering the commencement of the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court from 1 June 2023. Unitary Patents may be registered from this date although note that there is already a mechanism to file an early request for Unitary effect for European patents granted since 1 January 2023. A sunrise period commences on 1 March 2023. Holders of existing European patents may elect to opt their patents out of the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court during this sunrise period should they wish to do so. We have published guidance on the UP and UPC and are happy to answer questions on these topics. [February 2023]

European Patent Office starts to accept new Unitary Patent related requests

From 1 January 2023, the EPO has started to accept forms to (1) request Unitary effect of a European patent and (2) delay grant of a European patent until the Unitary patent system has come into effect, currently expected to be from June 2023. These forms may be filed if a Rule 71(3) (notification of acceptance) letter has been issued. For option (2) the form should be filed before or at the time of responding to the Rule 71(3) communication. [1 January 2023]

USPTO Reduces Small and Micro Entity Fees

In a welcome departure from ongoing inflation, the US Patent and Trademark Office has increased the fee discount for small entities from 50% to 60% (and for micro entities from 75% to 80%) from 1 January 2023. [1 January 2023]

The European Patent Office "10 day rule" is to come to an end

The European Patent Office has indicated that it will stop the long-standing "10 day rule" under which many deadlines have been calculated from a notional receipt date, 10 days after the actual date of the communication. The expectation is that for any communications issued by the EPO on or after 1 November 2023, deadlines which are calculated from the date of the communication will no longer have any additional period of time added (except in rare circumstances where there is an actual disruption in communication).

Montenegro joins the European Patent

Montenegro has become a contracting party of the European Patent Organisation and will be designated in new European Patent Applications filed on or after 1 October 2022. A European Patent Application can now designate 39 states and there are also four validation states and one extension state to which a European Patent may be extended. Montenegro is not part of the European Union and so cannot participate in the EU Unitary Patent.