The Lens Newsletter - March 2023

A "new era of IP protection in Europe” as the sun (finally) rises on the UPC

On 17 February, Germany deposited its ratification of the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (the “UPCA”). This was the final step in making the Unified Patent Court (the “UPC”) and the new Unitary Patent a reality and has cleared the path... Read more

Oxford University’s IP Policy put under the microscope as High Court considers questions of fairness

As part of a novel defence to a claim for unpaid royalties relating to the use of IP rights in a specialised microscope, the High Court has recently considered the effect of consumer protection law on a university’s IP policy. Whilst it found that... Read more

That's my crypto – fork it over!

How far would you go to get your hands on billions of pounds worth of cryptocurrency? Dr Craig White, who also claims to be Satoshi Nakamoto (the anonymous visionary behind the bitcoin project) is continuing his quest to get control of a... Read more

UK privacy reform progresses - Data Protection and Digital Information Bill in Parliament (again)

The new draft of the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill, containing the Government’s data protection reform proposals, was introduced to Parliament on Wednesday 8 March. This ended months of uncertainty after the original... Read more

Remote driving: Law Commission gears up for regulatory change

Autonomous vehicles have dominated headlines for some time now, but the Law Commission has recently turned its attention to remote driving. On 20 February 2023, it published a 134-page paper advising the UK Government on the legal status of remote... Read more

WEF: Without AI we won’t meet ESG Goals

The World Economic Forum has recently said that without AI, we won’t meet ESG goals and beat climate change. It is clear that advancements in AI are likely to lead to more developments in green technology generally, but how can AI help a company... Read more

Tech and Sustainability are inseparable: key takeaways from ClimateTech roundtable

There is nothing novel in the suggestion that technology has a central role to play in tackling the climate crisis. However, after various iterations of this revolution, the dialogue and momentum around ClimateTech appears to have reached... Read more