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14.11.2023

Artificial Intelligence

The site of Alan Turing's pioneering codebreaking achievements during World War II recently hosted another momentous gathering—the 2023 Bletchley Park AI Summit.

Held on November 1-2, 2023, and convened by the UK government, the summit brought together government representatives and industry leaders from major AI powers to address the opportunities and risks posed by advanced artificial intelligence.

07.11.2023

Artificial Intelligence

We at WP Thompson are proud to recognise the contributions of our Dr Julian Potter and Ranveer Riyat in the authorship of a new book titled "Artificial Intelligence and Patents: An International Perspective on Patenting AI-Related Inventions."

06.11.2023

Summary of Facts and Decision

In a recent decision J5/23, the Legal Board of Appeal rejected a request by the applicant to record a transfer of the application from Gyrus ACMI Inc. to Olympus Medical Systems Corporation on the European Patent Register.  The applicant relied on the use of an e-signature to sign an assignment document and, when rejected by the EPO, tried to rely on a previous publication by the EPO that e-signatures would be accepted for the purposes of assignment documents.

The relevant legal provision to be applied is Article 72 EPC, which states that for a valid assignment of a European patent application, the request must be made in writing and signed by all parties to the contract.  The key question in this decision was the definition of the word “signature” and what the role of electronic signatures play in this Article.

20.10.2023

We are delighted to celebrate our ranking as a leading Intellectual Property firm in Chambers 2024 rankings.  This year’s ranking marks the twelfth consecutive year in which WP Thompson has been recognised as leading Intellectual Property firm by Chambers.