Clifford Chance
Global Intellectual Property Newsletter –30th Edition – IP Topics from around the Globe
23 June 2021
Welcome to the 30th edition of the Clifford Chance Global IP Newsletter.
Fortunately, increasing vaccination rates significantly promote the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as the supply with vaccines is still limited, especially poor and middle-income nations struggle to obtain sufficient vaccine, leading to a global supply gap, which gives rise to the question of a fair global distribution system of vaccines. IP is at the centre of this public discussion as some nations argue that a waiver of IP rights, in particular patent protection, would further enhance the global distribution process. Our Spanish team takes a look at the proposal submitted to the TRIPS Council by India and South Africa, aiming at “inactivating” the obligations of WTO Member States relating to IP rights.
With progresses made in the fight against the pandemic, trade shows are slowly back on the agenda, especially this year's Mobile World Congress as the world’s most influential exhibition for the connectivity industry. This year's MWC will take place in a hybrid form, both in person and virtual, which lead the Commercial Court of Barcelona and the European Union Trade Mark Court of Alicante to adapt their fast-track protocol for dealing with MWC-related IP proceedings.
New technologies continue to have a significant impact on IP law. Given the increasing significance of algorithms for business models, our German team sheds light on how algorithms are treated under German copyright, patent and trade secret law. Our Italian team provides an overview of two decisions regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI), which take a closer look at how AI software works so that the exploitation of AI is unbiased, ethic and explainable.
In addition, our Italian team discusses a recent decision by the Italian Competition Authority, who fined two Italian companies an overall amount of EUR 2,000,000.00 for misleading consumer practices perpetrated using the app “Telepass”, and analyses the Italian Recovery Plan including its consequences for digitalisation of Italy's private and public sectors.
This Edition concludes with an overview about recent IP case law: The General Court of the European Union has smoothed out discrepancies in case law, clarifying the protection afforded by the exclusive right to a trademark for slogans. Thus, our Polish team analyses the steps that can be taken to protect a slogan as a trademark. Finally, our German team discusses two decisions by the German Federal Constitutional Court ruling that, in general, the defendant must be granted the right to be heard in interim injunction proceedings before a court may issue such injunction.
As always, we hope you enjoy reading this edition. We look forward to receiving your feedback. Take care and stay healthy!
Your Global CC IP Team
