The biggest news in the patent community now is the Unified Patent Court (UPC), which came into being on 1 June 2023. It is the world’s first supranational patent court, and currently has jurisdiction over European patents in 17 out of the 27 EU member states, including France, Italy and Germany, but excluding, for example, Spain and Poland. Ireland was planning a referendum to allow it to join the system, but recently announced that it was postponing the vote.
Researchers have harnessed AI technology to identify 863,498 promising antimicrobial peptides – small molecules that can kill or inhibit the growth of infectious microbes. The findings are welcome news as the world contends with growing numbers of superbugs resistant to current drugs.