PATENTS, TRADE MARKS AND DESIGNS
WE HELP INDIVIDUALS AND BUSINESSES OF ALL shapes and SIZES
Schlich is a unique team of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys based in the South of England. Since 2004, we’ve helped our clients acquire, and defend, their IP assets, helping them to build and grow successful businesses based on their IP assets.
We draft and file patent applications, get them granted and enforce them. We also prepare and file trade mark applications and prosecute them to registration.
To enforce our clients’ rights, we also represent them in court and other inter partes proceedings (and, where necessary, attack and remove competitors’ rights).
Recent Insights
Read the latest news and briefings from the team at Schlich about real cases involving patents, trade marks and designs.
Inventive Step Based on a “Black Box” Following G1/23
The EPO Technical Boards of Appeal (TBA) decision in T 1044/23 offers the first practical insight into how the EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) decision in G 1/23 will shape novelty and inventive step assessments when the prior art consists of commercially available products whose manufacturing processes remain undisclosed, i.e. effectively an intellectual “black box.”
Which is More Important: Human Rights or Trade Marks? The CJEU Prepares to Decide!
The interplay between human rights and intellectual property, and the question of whether the exclusive rights conferred by registering IP can be used to restrict a third party’s right to freedom of expression, have been raised in several cases. In a recent opinion, the CJEU’s Advocate General has suggested there is a balance to be struck, rather than one right being more important than the other.
When AI is not enough: UKIPO and patentability of AI inventions
Technology with artificial intelligence has experienced an extraordinary boom in recent years. This is reflected in the increasing number of patent applications with inventions that integrate AI to their functionality. Interestingly, this has raised many legal questions regarding excluded subject matter, seeing that determining what constitutes a patentable AI invention has become an important point of debate in intellectual property law.
Claim Interpretation At The EPO: Clear Claim Language Might Not Mean What You Think It Does
Since the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal issued decision G1/24, it has become clear from the number of recent decisions of EPO Technical Boards of Appeal that the description is not, in practice, being used to narrow the interpretation of otherwise clear claim language. T1849/23 has become the first case where clear claim language is broadened by definitions and/or embodiments provided in the description.
Does UK Patent Law Need Updating to Account for AI? One Recent Decision of the UK High Court Suggests It Does!
A recent decision of the UK High Court in relation to another of Dr Thaler’s patent applications highlights some of the problems caused by using patent laws written in a time before AI to govern patent practice in the modern age.
The CJEU Considers Infringement of a LEGO Registered Design Right Through the Eyes of the “Informed User”
In Decision C-211/24 the CJEU have confirmed that the ‘informed user’ in the context of considering infringement of a registered design should be understood as someone who is particularly observant and knowledgeable, often due to personal experience or extensive knowledge of the sector.
Lynk Labs asks Supreme Court of the United States to define prior art in the context of inter partes review proceedings
With the America Invents Act, Congress introduced a new administrative procedure for challenging patents – inter partes review (IPR). Any person, except the Proprietor, can file a petition for review but only on a ground that could be raised under section 102 or 103 and “only on the basis of prior art consisting of patents or printed publications” (35 U.S.C. § 311(b)). In a judgement handed down in January 2025, the Federal Circuit affirmed a decision of the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) to hold several of Lynk Lab’s patent claims as obvious over a US patent application filed before, but published after, the priority date of Lynk Lab’s patent claims. Key to this finding was the Federal Circuit’s affirmation that patent applications may serve as prior art in IPR proceedings as of their filing date and fall within the ambit of the category printed publications. Now Lynk Labs has petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari asking “Whether patent applications that become publicly accessible only after the challenged patent’s critical date are “prior art *** printed publications” within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. § 311(b)”. In Lynk Lab’s opinion, they are not.
An Appellant is an appellant, and an intervener in an appeal is an intervener – G2/24
Following our earlier article, the Enlarged Board has now provided its Decision in this matter,
EXCELLENCE IN PATENT AND TRADE MARK LAW
The Schlich Team
Our clients expect and receive a responsive, friendly, high quality and great value service thanks to our experienced professionals. Our UK and European Patent Attorneys and Chartered Trade Mark Attorneys have a broad range of scientific and technical degrees and Ph.Ds from top UK Universities, and have decades of experience advising at cutting edge of legal and commercial issues and technologies.
We build on our deep experience of prosecution and inter partes proceedings to give the best strategic and practical advice, and to secure the best patent and trade mark protection for our clients’ innovations. Our team does this efficiently, and in a friendly and clear manner, supported by a wider team of highly skilled and experienced legal support staff.
Latest Firm News
Simon Wright becomes CIPA President in 2026
We are delighted to announce that Schlich’s very own Simon Wright has begun his term as CIPA president, from 1 January 2026.
New Year Promotions at Schlich
We are delighted to announce that Juliette Boynton has been appointed a Director at Schlich and Sean Hughes has been promoted to Principal.
Schlich Named in Financial Times ‘Europe’s Leading Patent Law Firms’ for 2025
Schlich are proud to announce that we have been named one of ‘Europe’s Leading Patent Law Firms’ by the Financial Times. The list, compiled by peer and client recommendations, as well as statistical research, published a total of 215 firms offering patent attorney services in Europe.
