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

[Simone Lorenzi]

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

 Simone Lorenzi Thursday, March 19, 2026 - #NeverTooLate, Artificial Intelligence, copyright, IP, plant varieties, Simone Lorenzi, trade marks

Another action-packed week has wrapped up on the blog, delivering a wealth of jurisprudence on everything from artificial intelligence to seedless mandarins. 
Should you need to catch up, here is the IPKat's rapid-fire digest of the latest news!

The IPKat sifts through the archives to ensure it's "Never Too Late" to catch up.

Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Frontier

Rose Hughes explored the cautionary tale of United States v. Heppner, where a US court ruled that defense strategies drafted via the AI "Claude" were not protected by attorney-client privilege, reminding practitioners that prompts entered into public AI tools are rarely confidential.

Georgia Jenkins analysed the US Supreme Court’s denial of certiorari in the Thaler case, arguing that while copyright law firmly clings to the human authorship requirement, private platform contracts and terms of use are quietly stepping in to allocate rights and construct a market for AI-generated works.

Trademarks

Katfriend Natalia Basałaj chronicled the rise of the "Biscoff" empire, breaking down Lotus Bakeries' strategic move away from the generic "Speculoos" name to a globally protected brand bolstered by a comprehensive portfolio of 3D shapes, jar designs, and strict B2B guidelines.

Marcel Pemsel commented on the General Court's Empreinte v EUIPO decision, warning designers that even highly original or "ergonomic" features — like a corkscrew handle moulded to a human hand grip — will fall foul of the functionality exclusion if they are necessary to obtain a technical result.

Söğüt Atilla-Aydın scrutinised the EUIPO Board of Appeal’s invalidation of the mark "BREITLING FOR WOMEN", highlighting the Office's firm stance against parasitic filing strategies that attempt to piggyback on well-known brands without a legitimate, commercially logical justification.

Plant Varieties

Jocelyn Bosse reported on a rare and technically dense ruling from the UK Patents Court in Nador Cott Protection v Asda, detailing why the seedless 'Tang Gold' mandarin was found not to be an "essentially derived variety" of the 'Nadorcott', while providing valuable insights into the "cascade principle".

Image credit: Gemini AI

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