Nice classes · Trade marks · Brand protection

IP & Brands.

Class-led reporting on how AI is reshaping trade marks, brand protection and IP strategy — for owners who treat the brand as the asset.

Correspondent: Harriet HallmarkSIC 69.10Nice class 35, 42, 45, 9, 25, 36, 41, 4352 articles

Lead · Harriet Hallmark

DOJ's OpenAI Fair-Use Brief Rewrites the Brand-Protection Calculus - From New York to Nice Class 36

Washington just told every brand owner that copyright alone won't protect them from AI training on their content. For financial-services brands in Class 36, where our data shows UK filings have fallen sharply, the timing could not be worse.

Today · 4 min read

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

AI Brands Still Off the Register: Class 42's AIaaS Slot Sits Largely Unfilled as UKIPO Sharpens Its Observation Lens

WIPO formalised 'Artificial Intelligence as a Service' as a Class 42 term in January 2026, handing AI companies their clearest filing roadmap yet. Eight months on, Clarivate's annual data confirms most major AI developers still don't appear among the top UK trademark filers - a gap that a freshly updated UKIPO observation procedure makes increasingly dangerous to ignore.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 5 min read

Getty v Stability AI: The Court of Appeal Question That Could Redraw UK Copyright for Every AI Model

A new academic broadside against the High Court's secondary infringement ruling arrives just as Getty's appeal heads toward the Court of Appeal. The outcome will determine whether model weights constitute 'infringing articles' under the CDPA - and with it, the legal cost of building AI in Britain.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

When a Genre Prefix Isn't Enough: Demon Hunter v Netflix and the Multi-Class Brand Erasure Problem

A 25-year-old metal band is suing Netflix after a Grammy-winning animated franchise slowly consumed its name across recorded music, merchandise and live touring. The case is a textbook warning about what happens when brand owners underestimate how franchise expansion bleeds across Nice classes.

Harriet Hallmark · 3 min read

UKIPO's September AI Overhaul: What Brand Owners Must Do Before the Digital Countdown

The UK Intellectual Property Office is weeks away from beginning a fundamental rebuild of its trademark search and filing infrastructure, with AI tools at its centre. For brand owners, the window to act under the current system is narrowing fast.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 5 min read

GEMA v. Suno: Munich Court's First European AI Music Ruling Puts Every Generative Platform on Notice

Germany's highest-profile AI copyright verdict yet bars Suno from training on protected repertoire and asserts jurisdiction over US-based AI companies serving European users - a precedent that reaches far beyond music.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 6 min read

The Trademark 100 Weekly: Tesco's All-Class Sweep, Walmart's AI Brand Push, and a Quiet Signal in the Class 42 Numbers

This week's Trademark 100 data reveals a supermarket filing all 45 Nice classes in one sweep, two US tech giants racing to lock down AI-adjacent marks across both registers, and a 61.6% collapse in UK Class 42 software-services filings that tells a more uncomfortable story about where AI brand-building is really happening.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

AliExpress's €550m DSA Fine Is a Brand-Protection Wake-Up Call Across Every Nice Class

The European Commission's record penalty against AliExpress exposes a brutal truth: platform brand-authorisation systems are failing, and the burden of enforcement still falls on rights-holders who file. With UK Class 45 trademark filings down sharply, the timing is uncomfortable.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

Delhi Court Backs OpenAI on Training Data: What It Means for Every UK Class 42 Brand

India's first substantive AI copyright ruling hands OpenAI an interim victory over news agency ANI - and the decision's logic is already reverberating through global IP strategy, including for UK firms filing in Class 42.

Harriet Hallmark · 5 min read

The 'OPENAI' Trademark Rejection Is a Warning Every AI Brand Must Heed

The EU General Court has ruled that 'OPENAI' is too descriptive to function as an EU trade mark across Classes 9, 42 and 45. The same week, an Indian court handed the AI industry a fair-dealing win on training data. Taken together, the two rulings reframe the IP stakes for every business building on an AI-inflected name.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

Two Courts, Two Verdicts: What the OpenAI Rulings Mean for Every AI Brand Filing in Classes 42 and 43

Within ten days, courts on opposite sides of the world handed the AI industry contradictory signals on brand protection - one a lifeline on content, the other a rebuke on naming. Brand owners in AI services cannot afford to read only one judgment.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

The 'OPENAI' Word Mark Fails in Europe: What AI Brands Must Learn About Descriptiveness

The EU General Court has confirmed that one of the world's most recognised AI names cannot be trademarked as a word mark across Classes 9, 42 and 45. The ruling is a sharp warning for every founder who assumed market fame was the same as registered protection.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

The Name That Describes Itself: What OpenAI's EU Trademark Defeat Means for Every AI Brand

The EU General Court has ruled that 'OPENAI' is too descriptive to function as a trade mark for software and AI services - a judgment that should unsettle any brand owner whose name leans on the vocabulary of artificial intelligence.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

OpenAI Can't Own 'OPENAI' in the EU: What the Class 9 and 42 Ruling Means for AI Brand Owners

The EU General Court ruled on 15 July that 'OPENAI' is too descriptive to function as an EU trade mark for software and AI services - a verdict that puts every AI company with a name built around the letters 'AI' on notice.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

When 'OPENAI' Isn't a Trade Mark: The EU Ruling Every AI Brand Owner Must Heed

The EU General Court has ruled that 'OPENAI' is too descriptive to function as an EU trade mark for software and AI services - a decision that lands like a warning shot across the entire sector. If the world's most famous AI name can be refused, no AI brand is safe by default.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

Classes 9, 42 and 45 in the Dock: What the EUIPO's OPENAI Refusal Means for Every AI Brand

The EU General Court ruled this month that 'OPENAI' is too descriptive to function as an EU word mark across software, cloud and identity-verification services. For every AI company that has assumed a famous name is a protected name, the judgment is a sharp correction.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

The Name That Describes Itself: OpenAI Loses EU Word Mark Fight Across Classes 9, 42 and 45

The EU General Court has confirmed that 'OPENAI' is too descriptive to function as a registered word mark for software, cloud services and identity verification. The ruling lands at a moment when AI-adjacent naming is already under intense scrutiny from both EUIPO and UKIPO - and it carries lessons far beyond one California company.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

EUIPO Tells OpenAI Its Name Is Too Generic to Own: What Class 42 AI Brands Must Learn Now

The EU General Court has ruled that 'OPENAI' is too descriptive to function as an EU word mark for software and AI services - a verdict that sends a quiet warning to every tech brand built on an AI-adjacent name.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

When the Patent Office Rewrites the Rules on AI, Trademark Strategy Has to Follow

The UKIPO's fresh examination guidance after the Supreme Court's landmark Emotional Perception AI ruling is not only a patent story - it reshapes how brand-owning businesses in legal services and tech should think about Class 42 protection and specification drafting right now.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

AI Firms Are Building the Tech - But Skipping the Trademark: The Class 43 Blind Spot

The UKIPO issued a formal practice notice this week reshaping how AI patent applications are examined, while fresh data shows Class 43 filings have collapsed 82.9% in Q3 2026. Britain's AI sector is rewriting IP law yet barely registering on the trademark register.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

Deepfakes, Scatter-Guns and a Register Under Strain: The AI Brand Crisis Hitting UK Trademark Law

UK trademark attorneys are resorting to broad, multi-class filing strategies to fight AI-generated deepfakes - just as the UKIPO raises fees, pendency times worsen, and fresh data shows legal-services companies are almost entirely unprotected in Class 25.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 5 min read

USPTO's AI Trademark Toolkit Reshapes Pre-Examination: What Attorneys Must Understand Now

The USPTO has rolled out a suite of AI tools that compress months of trademark pre-processing into minutes. The efficiency gains are real. So are the professional liability questions.

Harriet Hallmark · 4 min read

AI Is Reshaping UK Trade Mark Filing - But Most Brand Owners Aren't Keeping Up

The UKIPO is deploying AI to overhaul how it examines and searches trade marks. The uncomfortable irony: the businesses most exposed to AI-era brand risk are the ones with no mark on the register at all.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 6 min read

The Trademark 100 Weekly: Amazon, Walmart, and Alphabet Signal an AI-Driven Land Grab Across 31 Nice Classes

This week's Trademark 100 data shows Big Tech and Big Retail filing at extraordinary breadth, spanning consumer goods, AI services, financial products, and entertainment. The pattern is not coincidence. It's a coordinated IP land grab timed to AI product cycles.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 6 min read

The Trademark 100 Weekly: J&J Leads a Filing Sprint That Maps Five Companies' Strategic Intentions

This week's Trademark 100 data reveals Johnson & Johnson, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet, and Disney filing at a combined pace that signals pipeline launches, AI infrastructure builds, and platform territory grabs - not routine housekeeping.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 6 min read

Trademark Squatters Are Coming for Your E-Commerce Business - And Your Supply Chain Knows the Way In

China's first-to-file trademark system has become a precision weapon against foreign e-commerce brands. Reform is coming. It isn't here yet.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 2 min read

The Trademark 100 Weekly: Tech Giants Mobilise Brand Defense as AI Race Intensifies

Apple's 53 filings this week signal major AI product launches while Disney's gaming push reveals the streaming wars' newest battlefield

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

USPTO Reverses Course on AI Inventorship, UK Supreme Court Rewrites Software Patent Law

Two landmark developments reshape AI patent strategy across jurisdictions, creating new opportunities and enforcement risks for innovators

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

Brexit's Final Bite: How Evidence Shifts and Fee Hikes Are Forcing IP Attorneys to Rebuild Trade Mark Workflows

From January 2026, UK cloned trade marks lose EU use protection while UKIPO fees rise 25% and SkyKick guidance reshapes examination. For IP attorneys, it's retool or risk client exposure.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 4 min read

Brexit Trade Mark Grace Period Expires: 1.4 Million UK Rights Now Face Non-Use Cancellation

Five years after creation, comparable UK marks lose EU-use shield as first wave of revocation challenges begins materialising

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

UK Trade Mark Clones Face First Non-Use Revocations as Brexit Grace Period Ends

Two million comparable UK marks can no longer rely on EU use for defence - exposing unaware owners to competitor attacks and enforcement failures

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 2 min read

UKIPO Filing Surge Masks Register Clutter as Front Companies Drive Record Numbers

Behind the headline boom: why record trademark filings may signal heightened clearance risk, not market health

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

UK Trade Mark Revocation Wave Begins as Brexit Grace Period Expires

Thousands of comparable UK trade marks face non-use challenges as five-year EU-use protection ends

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 2 min read

USPTO Director Squires Ends AI Patent Wars - But Courts Haven't Surrendered

New guidance reverses years of hostile examination, yet Federal Circuit maintains strict Alice/Mayo enforcement for software patents

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

Supreme Court Silence on AI Authorship Leaves Human Requirement Intact

The Court's denial of certiorari in Thaler v. Perlmutter settles - for now - that machines cannot be copyright authors, but leaves fundamental questions about AI-assisted creativity unanswered

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

Supreme Court Abandons Aerotel Test, Signals New Era for AI Patent Protection

UK's highest court ditches two decades of computer program exclusions, lowering the bar for AI inventions while creating fresh uncertainty around the inventive step standard

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

USPTO's AI Patent Reset Under Squires Shows Promise Despite Examiner Resistance

New Director's policy shifts signal a more patent-friendly stance for AI inventions, but internal skepticism and litigation pressure persist

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

UKIPO Fee Surge Doubles Down on UK Attorneys as Chinese Front Company Filings Escalate

Two months into the UKIPO's first trademark fee increase since 1998, UK IP attorneys face a perfect storm: 25% higher official costs colliding with an unabated surge of low-quality Chinese front company filings that are clogging clearance searches.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 2 min read

USPTO Hands AI Tools to Examining Attorneys in July - What It Means for UK Practice

Internal generative AI deployment at USPTO creates procedural precedent as UKIPO accelerates own digital transformation

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

UKIPO Sets 2026 Deadline for SEP Dispute Reform as IP Attorneys Face Revenue Disruption

The UKIPO's Corporate Plan signals sweeping changes to UK patent litigation economics, with a new low-cost track threatening traditional FRAND case revenues while creating opportunities in regulatory compliance work

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

UKIPO SEP Reform Threatens Litigation Revenue as New Rate Track Targets £14m FRAND Cases

The UKIPO's proposed Rate Determination Track could slash costs for Standard Essential Patent disputes and reshape the economics of IP practice

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

£205 Trademark Fees and Chinese Filing Surge Signal UKIPO System Under Strain

The first fee increase since 1998 compounds pressure from record Chinese applications, forcing practitioners to confront capacity limits and unregulated representation.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

UKIPO Fee Hike Lands as Foreign Filings Surge Tests System Capacity

25% fee increase coincides with record Chinese applications, straining an office preparing for its One IPO digital overhaul

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

CNN Files First-of-Kind AI Copyright Suit Against Perplexity, Tests News Distribution Theory

Television network's lawsuit challenges AI search engine's content scraping, marking first copyright action by any TV broadcaster against generative AI

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

Brexit's Five-Year Grace Period Ends: UK Comparable Marks Now Exposed to Non-Use Revocation

From 1 January 2026, EU use can no longer defend UK trade mark clones against section 46 challenges. Portfolio audits are no longer optional.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

Brexit's Final Phase-Out: Comparable UK Trade Marks Now Vulnerable to Non-Use Cancellation

Two million auto-generated UK marks lose EU use protection from January 1, creating massive exposure for rights holders who've ignored territorial boundaries

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

Live Filing Data Reshapes UK Trademark Attorney Selection as Client Transparency Demand Rises

New platforms exposing real-time attorney performance metrics challenge traditional reputation-based selection, forcing IP firms to compete on measurable outcomes

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

UK Trademark Attorneys Confront Data Transparency Reckoning as Platforms Expose Filing Activity

AI-powered platforms are making attorney performance data public for the first time, forcing UK IP practices to adapt to a world where expertise is measured not by reputation alone but by verifiable filing history.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

Data-Driven Attorney Selection Disrupts UK Trademark Market

Public filing platforms now rank UK trademark attorneys by performance metrics, forcing traditional IP practices to reconsider how clients discover and select counsel.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

AI Disclosure Trap: How Feeding Ideas to ChatGPT Could Kill Your Patents

USPTO guidance warns inventors that AI-assisted brainstorming may trigger public disclosure bars, forcing a fundamental shift in patent strategy.

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 3 min read

AI Platform Transforms UK Trademark Attorney Market with Live Activity Rankings

TrademarkDashboard.com debuts comprehensive AI tools and first-ever directory ranking UK IP attorneys by live filing activity, disrupting traditional clearance workflows

Eleanor Vance-Hartley · 2 min read

UK Supreme Court Rewrites AI Patent Law as US Courts Pull in Opposite Direction

The February ruling in Emotional Perception AI creates a trans-Atlantic split on artificial neural network patentability just as Federal Circuit decisions tighten eligibility standards

DOJ's OpenAI Fair-Use Brief Rewrites the Brand-Protection Calculus - From New York to Nice Class 36

AI Brands Still Off the Register: Class 42's AIaaS Slot Sits Largely Unfilled as UKIPO Sharpens Its Observation Lens

Getty v Stability AI: The Court of Appeal Question That Could Redraw UK Copyright for Every AI Model

When a Genre Prefix Isn't Enough: Demon Hunter v Netflix and the Multi-Class Brand Erasure Problem

UKIPO's September AI Overhaul: What Brand Owners Must Do Before the Digital Countdown

GEMA v. Suno: Munich Court's First European AI Music Ruling Puts Every Generative Platform on Notice

The Trademark 100 Weekly: Tesco's All-Class Sweep, Walmart's AI Brand Push, and a Quiet Signal in the Class 42 Numbers

AliExpress's €550m DSA Fine Is a Brand-Protection Wake-Up Call Across Every Nice Class

Delhi Court Backs OpenAI on Training Data: What It Means for Every UK Class 42 Brand

The 'OPENAI' Trademark Rejection Is a Warning Every AI Brand Must Heed

Two Courts, Two Verdicts: What the OpenAI Rulings Mean for Every AI Brand Filing in Classes 42 and 43

The 'OPENAI' Word Mark Fails in Europe: What AI Brands Must Learn About Descriptiveness

The Name That Describes Itself: What OpenAI's EU Trademark Defeat Means for Every AI Brand

OpenAI Can't Own 'OPENAI' in the EU: What the Class 9 and 42 Ruling Means for AI Brand Owners

When 'OPENAI' Isn't a Trade Mark: The EU Ruling Every AI Brand Owner Must Heed

Classes 9, 42 and 45 in the Dock: What the EUIPO's OPENAI Refusal Means for Every AI Brand

The Name That Describes Itself: OpenAI Loses EU Word Mark Fight Across Classes 9, 42 and 45

EUIPO Tells OpenAI Its Name Is Too Generic to Own: What Class 42 AI Brands Must Learn Now

When the Patent Office Rewrites the Rules on AI, Trademark Strategy Has to Follow

AI Firms Are Building the Tech - But Skipping the Trademark: The Class 43 Blind Spot

Deepfakes, Scatter-Guns and a Register Under Strain: The AI Brand Crisis Hitting UK Trademark Law

USPTO's AI Trademark Toolkit Reshapes Pre-Examination: What Attorneys Must Understand Now

AI Is Reshaping UK Trade Mark Filing - But Most Brand Owners Aren't Keeping Up

The Trademark 100 Weekly: Amazon, Walmart, and Alphabet Signal an AI-Driven Land Grab Across 31 Nice Classes

The Trademark 100 Weekly: J&J Leads a Filing Sprint That Maps Five Companies' Strategic Intentions

Trademark Squatters Are Coming for Your E-Commerce Business - And Your Supply Chain Knows the Way In

The Trademark 100 Weekly: Tech Giants Mobilise Brand Defense as AI Race Intensifies

USPTO Reverses Course on AI Inventorship, UK Supreme Court Rewrites Software Patent Law

Brexit's Final Bite: How Evidence Shifts and Fee Hikes Are Forcing IP Attorneys to Rebuild Trade Mark Workflows

Brexit Trade Mark Grace Period Expires: 1.4 Million UK Rights Now Face Non-Use Cancellation

UK Trade Mark Clones Face First Non-Use Revocations as Brexit Grace Period Ends

UKIPO Filing Surge Masks Register Clutter as Front Companies Drive Record Numbers

UK Trade Mark Revocation Wave Begins as Brexit Grace Period Expires

USPTO Director Squires Ends AI Patent Wars - But Courts Haven't Surrendered

Supreme Court Silence on AI Authorship Leaves Human Requirement Intact

Supreme Court Abandons Aerotel Test, Signals New Era for AI Patent Protection

USPTO's AI Patent Reset Under Squires Shows Promise Despite Examiner Resistance

UKIPO Fee Surge Doubles Down on UK Attorneys as Chinese Front Company Filings Escalate

USPTO Hands AI Tools to Examining Attorneys in July - What It Means for UK Practice

UKIPO Sets 2026 Deadline for SEP Dispute Reform as IP Attorneys Face Revenue Disruption

UKIPO SEP Reform Threatens Litigation Revenue as New Rate Track Targets £14m FRAND Cases

£205 Trademark Fees and Chinese Filing Surge Signal UKIPO System Under Strain

UKIPO Fee Hike Lands as Foreign Filings Surge Tests System Capacity

CNN Files First-of-Kind AI Copyright Suit Against Perplexity, Tests News Distribution Theory

Brexit's Five-Year Grace Period Ends: UK Comparable Marks Now Exposed to Non-Use Revocation

Brexit's Final Phase-Out: Comparable UK Trade Marks Now Vulnerable to Non-Use Cancellation

Live Filing Data Reshapes UK Trademark Attorney Selection as Client Transparency Demand Rises

UK Trademark Attorneys Confront Data Transparency Reckoning as Platforms Expose Filing Activity

Data-Driven Attorney Selection Disrupts UK Trademark Market

AI Disclosure Trap: How Feeding Ideas to ChatGPT Could Kill Your Patents

AI Platform Transforms UK Trademark Attorney Market with Live Activity Rankings

UK Supreme Court Rewrites AI Patent Law as US Courts Pull in Opposite Direction

Stop counterfeits before they hijack your brand.

The Daily Dispatch.