Never Too Late: If you missed the IPKat last week!

Catch up on the latest IP highlights, from cross-border patent disputes to the copyright protection of sandals.

Copyright

From bio-inks to Birkenstocks:
The IPKat paws over the week's diverse docket.

Katfriend Spyros Sipetas analysed a recent Dutch District Court decision that acknowledged copyright protection for three Birkenstock sandal models. He contrasted this with a divergent German ruling, illustrating that despite harmonisation efforts, the legal landscape for works of applied art remains fragmented across the EU.

Patents

Claire Gregg explored the novel question of cross-border infringement in the Federal Court of Australia's Scidera decision. She discussed whether a diagnostic method claim is infringed when part of the process occurs offshore, noting that the court seems open to an "in substance" approach similar to that seen in UK authorities.

Rose Hughes provided a detailed review of 2025 EPO case law trends regarding antibodies and biologics. Her analysis highlighted the Boards of Appeal's strict approach to added matter and the complex role of post-published data, which can sometimes undermine a patentee's claim to sufficiency or inventive step.

Rose Hughes also examined the first EPO Board of Appeal decision to apply the G 1/23 ruling on "black-box" prior art. She explained that while a non-reproducible commercial product can destroy novelty, the decision confirms that trade secrets may still protect against an inventive step attack if the skilled person cannot deduce how to modify the product.

Katfriend Aislinn Fanning reviewed the book Bioinked Boundaries by Pratap Devarapalli. The post offers a comparative analysis of patentability for 3D bioprinted tissues and bioinks across the US, Europe, and Australia, discussing how patent systems must balance innovation incentives with the ethical implications of patenting life-mimicking technologies.

Trademarks

Oliver Fairhurst reported on a Hague District Court judgment concerning the sale of fire-damaged BMWs by an insurer. He detailed how the court rejected an exhaustion defence because the vehicles, held under external transit procedures, were never placed on the EEA market with the consent of the trade mark owner.

IP Events and Opportunities

Rose Hughes highlighted the imminent arrival of the new EU GI protection for craft and industrial products. She also shared details on upcoming events like the CITMA spring conference and the Oxford IP & Competition Forum, alongside the latest WIPO statistics on global patent and design activity.

Image credit: Gemini AI