News & Knowledge
B&B Bulletin
Greenwashing – Federal Court of Justice decision and new requirements for environmental advertising in the EU
After various regional and higher regional courts in Germany have examined the conditions under which companies may advertise the alleged “climate neutrality” of their products and services in recent years, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has now issued clear...
DABUS – AI still no inventor
The German Federal Court of Justice has confirmed that an artificial intelligence cannot be an inventor, thus joining a number of similar rulings in other countries. Some time ago we reported in our B&B Bulletin on the decision of the...
Interim injunctions before the Unified Patent Court
After more than a year of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in operation, this article examines the regulations and previous case law on interim injunctions before the UPC and highlights the differences compared to proceedings before German courts. Now that...
Current G Decisions and Referral Questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office
The Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) of the European Patent Office (EPO) addressed fundamental questions regarding the EPO’s competence and priority in PCT applications in its decisions G 1/22 and G 2/22. With the referral of case G 1/23, the...
„KÖLNER DOM“ not registrable as a trademark
The sign „Kölner Dom“ cannot be protected as a trademark and must remain free for the general public. The High Cathedral Church of Cologne had applied for registration of the sign “KÖLNER DOM” for various goods and services with the...
B&B Partners obtain patentee-friendly decisions from the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
Rule 80 EPC – Multiple independent claims for defending a patent in opposition proceedings Within a short period of time, the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office have issued two parallel decisions that were obtained by partners of...
ChatGPT & Co. – Artificial Intelligence and Copyright
Few topics are currently dominating the public debate as much as the impact of artificial intelligence on our workplace. This also applies to copyright law and the creative industries that depend on it. The following article provides a brief overview...
Basically plausible: one year after G 2/21
After the decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (G 2/21 of March 23, 2023) did not seal the end for all experimental data submitted later to prove a technical effect, the question arises one...
CJEU: Trade mark infringement by spare parts from third-party suppliers that contain elements for affixing a trade mark emblem
In its judgment of 25.01.2024 (C-334/22), the European Court of Justice (CJEU) clarified that a car manufacturer can prohibit the use of a sign for spare parts if it contains an element that is similar or identical to a trade mark.
File Inspection at the UPC
If a company is concerned that a patent may be (or has been) asserted against it, access to the files of parallel validity or infringement proceedings relating to that patent will save time and money in preparing a defense. The...
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