Intellectual Property Law

A significant rise in applications from China saw patent applications jump by almost a third last year, the Intellectual Property Office of Ireland (IPOI) has revealed. The IPOI's newly-published 2024 annual report states that a total of 774 patent applications were received in 2024, a 31 per cent i

Intellectual property law expert Dr Richard Bunworth has joined Trinity College Dublin School of Law as an assistant professor. Dr Bunworth will lecture on intellectual property law, industrial property and related subjects, as well as supervising dissertations on intellectual property, technology,

The High Court has imposed a €30,000 fine for contempt of court on a man who deliberately breached a court order and destroyed evidence related to his "dodgy box" operation. Broadcaster Sky sued Co Wexford man David Dunbar for allegedly infringed its copyright by operating an illegal inter

An Irish TikToker has reportedly reached a settlement in a legal dispute with the manufacturer of the children’s toys she uses to tell soap opera-style stories involving sex and drugs. More than 2.5 million people follow @sylvaniandrama on TikTok, where Thea Von Engelbrechten posts short stori

The Court of Appeal has upheld an injunction preventing a subsidiary of Danone from launching a range of skyr yoghurt products in Ireland pending a full trial in a passing-off dispute raised by rival company Yoplait. Yoplait Ireland Limited, which has sold skyr products in Ireland since 2022, brough

Denmark is to update its copyright laws to give everyone a right to their own likeness and voice in response to the rise of AI-generated deepfakes. The Danish culture ministry announced last week that the move had been agreed by the three-party government coalition as well as six opposition parties,

Meta has secured a legal victory in a copyright case brought by a group of writers, including Sarah Silverman and Ta-Nehisi Coates, who accused the company of unlawfully using their work to train its artificial intelligence models. The authors had alleged that Meta violated copyright law by using th

International intellectual property firm Stobbs has announced its expansion into the US. The business has grown since its founding in 2013 from a team of 18 to over 200 professionals, establishing offices in Dublin, London, Cambridge, Munich and Eindhoven.

William Fry's intellectual property team has walked away with two awards at the prestigious Managing IP Awards 2025 in London. The firm was named Irish Trademark Disputes Firm of the Year for the third year running, as well as winning Europe Impact Case of the Year for its work on Merck Sharp &

A number of illegal streaming services in Ireland have been shut down following a threat of criminal prosecution. The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) said it served legal notices on 13 illegal IPTV operators across Dublin, Cork, Donegal, Offaly, Limerick, Louth, Clare, Westmeath and Laois

IP law firm Bristows has appointed Naoise Gaffney as of counsel and UPC director in Dublin. The London-headquartered firm opened its Dublin office in September 2023 in response to the establishment of the Unified Patent Court (UPC).

It's all gone puff for Aldi, write Mason Hayes & Curran partner Gerard Kelly and senior associate John Milligan. The Federal Court of Australia has found Aldi liable for copyright infringement regarding certain artistic works used on the packaging for children’s food products. In reaching

Intellectual property specialist Lane IP, with an office on Dublin's North Wall Quay, has been acquired by Swedish-headquartered Abion. All offices and affiliated of Lane IP, which is based in the UK, will rebrand as Abion in September 2024 to support Abion's long-term ambition to build an internati

More than 27,000 unitary patents have been successfully registered by the European Patent Office (EPO) in the first year since the system was launched. Around 350 cases have so far been initiated before the Unified Patent Court (UPC), which enables centralised litigation not only for unitary patents

McDonald's has lost a trade mark battle with Supermac's over the extent of protections for the term 'Big Mac' in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Supermac's brought the proceedings after the US fast food giant successfully appealed a 2019 decision by the European Union Intellectual