NFTs and Smart Contracts - an in-house lawyers perspective

Press Release

International leading digital disruption expert joins Browne Jacobson

Press Release - #BeingBrowneJacobson

Browne Jacobson helps the Civil Aviation Authority take off with its modernisation masterplan

Press Release

Court of Appeal makes plea for legally enforceable arbitration for FRAND disputes

In the ongoing complex litigation between Optis Cellular Technology LLC and Apple Inc., the Court of Appeal ([2022] EWCA Civ 1411) has upheld the High Court’s findings that implementers of standard-essential patents (SEPs) cannot refuse to accept a FRAND license and continue activities in the meantime which constitute infringement: that party must commit to accept a court-determined license if it wishes to avoid an injunction.

Published Article

AI generated designs on retail products

Every AI will have its own terms of use. DALL·E 2’s Terms of Use dated 3 November 2022 specify that as between a user and Open AI, a user owns their prompts and uploads. Open AI also assigns to the user all rights in any images generated by DALL·E 2 for that user (subject to the user complying with those Terms of Use, and to a licence to use inputs and output to develop and improve the services).

Published Article

Bruce Willis AI and the problem with deepfakes

A deepfake of Bruce Willis is advertising Russian mobile phones. Many great artistic and metaphysical questions are raised by this performance. However, this article is going to look at the intellectual property law implications, from a UK perspective.

Press Release

Browne Jacobson announces former Aston Martin Vice President as Non-Executive Director of its Manufacturing & Industrials sector

Law firm Browne Jacobson has appointed former Vice President and Chief Planning Officer (CPO) of Aston Martin Lagonda, Nikki Rimmington as its first Non-Executive Director (NED) of its Manufacturing & Industrials sector strategy board.

Press Release

Browne Jacobson advise environmental giant Suez on its £2bn international acquisition of former waste management business

Browne Jacobson’s lawyers have advised Suez SA and its shareholders on its acquisition of its former UK waste management business – Suez R&R UK - from French headquartered business Veolia for an enterprise value of £2 billion.

Legal Update

Data reform in the UK

Since the UK left the EU and are now able to move away from the EU data protection regime, the UK government have implemented a national data strategy with the aim of reducing the burden on organisations but maintaining a high data protection standard.

Published Article

The role of Legal Project Management in public sector projects

The concept of Legal Project Management (“LPM”) is increasingly relevant to the delivery of legal services, both in-house functions and private practice law. This is unsurprising, LPM is crucial if lawyers are to add value by controlling budgets, communicate pro-actively on risk mitigation and costs, and manage time by resourcing to deal with pinch points in the project.

Legal Update

Avoiding the pitfalls of WhatsApp

The use of social media platforms and applications can have overwhelmingly positive benefits for public bodies. However, regulatory action recently taken by the Information Commissioner, has highlighted various pitfalls that public bodies should seek to avoid if allowing staff to use social media as a communication tool.

Press Release - Careers

Browne Jacobson becomes first law firm to join O Shaped’s movement to better the legal profession

Opinion

Right to Work Checks: Changes from 6 April 2022

From 6 April 2022, right to work checks on all migrant or settled prospective employees must be online and checks on British or Irish nationals will be manual (free) or digital (charged for).

Press Release

Browne Jacobson’s IP experts shine silver in world’s leading trade mark lawyer rankings

Browne Jacobson’s national IP lawyers are celebrating after being ranked in the 2022 World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000 - the independent guide which recognises leading trade mark experts across key jurisdictions around the globe.

Opinion

Draft Bill published to establish a Register of Overseas Entities

The Government has this week published the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill as part of its measures to crack down on foreign criminals using property in this country to launder money. The Bill proposes the establishment of a Register of Overseas Entities to be maintained by Companies House.

Opinion

Are whistleblowers entitled to keep their employer’s confidential documents?

In Nissan v Passi, the High Court recently considered the issue of an employee retaining confidential documents belonging to his former employer in the context of the employer’s application for an injunction seeking the return of such documents from the employee.

Opinion

The new point-based system: a complex and costly system in need of simplification

The immigration control tools now being used by the UK government which combine high costs, complex application system, salary threshold and exclusion of low skilled worker are having a significant detrimental effect on the business ability of UK based companies to employ EEA staff in the UK.

Published Article

Tipping the balance

In July this year, four years to the month after its introduction into UK law in the Supreme Court’s seminal judgment in Actavis v Eli Lilly, the court handed down its latest decision applying the ‘doctrine of equivalents’.

On-Demand

In-House Lawyers and CEO Skills and Development Webinar

Press Release

Browne Jacobson celebrates innovative French and British tech business talent at the Franco-British Business Awards 2021

Our corporate French Group & tech lawyers celebrated as Scaleflex won ‘Tech launch’ award at this year’s Franco-British Business Awards.

On-Demand

Aiming for Net Zero – what is the Real Estate sector in the UK and China doing?

China and the UK have both made commitments to aim for net-zero carbon and the built environment is acknowledged as playing a significant part in that.

Published Article

Court of Appeal upholds decision that AI machines cannot be ‘inventors’

The Court of Appeal has held that an AI machine cannot be named as the ‘inventor’ of a patent, because it is not a ‘natural person’, and is therefore also incapable of transferring the right in that patent to a person.

Press Release

Browne Jacobson's IP team celebrates UK rankings success in latest Legal 500

Browne Jacobson’s national IP team is celebrating after again securing Tier 1 rankings in the East and West Midlands region and maintaining its Tier 3 status in London in the latest edition of Legal 500.

Press Release

Reaction: Intellectual Property Enterprise Court judgment finds patent infringement based solely on equivalents

Reaction: Intellectual Property Enterprise Court judgment finds patent infringement based solely on equivalents

Legal Update

Corporate finance update

The Browne Jacobson corporate finance team continues to be a leading advisor, receiving recognition as the go-to advisor, for corporate M&A and private equity transactions.

Training

University spinouts and joint ventures – developing your in-house expertise

Catch up on this on-demand video where intellectual property expert Selina Hinchliffe and corporate specialist Sam Sharp discussed spinouts and joint ventures providing significant commercial opportunities for universities to capitalise on their research and innovation expertise.

Legal Update

Leading through change, a personal perspective

As we await the publication of the Government’s White Paper on local government reorganisation (LGR) it felt timely to reflect on the experiences of the previous Managing Partner (MP) of Browne Jacobson on leading an organisation through change.

Legal Update

Health care apps – Part 1 of 2: Exploring the ins and outs of intellectual property (IP)

The adoption of smart technology solutions by the health and care sector has exploded in 2020. The pandemic has driven the sector to increase its use of smart phone technology solutions (“Apps”), an example of which is conducting video consultations and assessments.

Training

In-House Lawyers: Brexit, intellectual property and commercial contracts

Covid-19 and the challenges associated with it grind on into a second wave. Not only that but there’s the prospect of Brexit and a looming recession ahead. It would be entirely forgivable not to be on top of the law right now. Watch our on-demand video, where we have discussed Brexit and intellectual property and consumer and commercial law changes.

Guide

Brexit overview: intellectual property and Brexit

We can how help you understand the potential issues that any changes will have on your business.