The Technology Platform

The beauty industry in 2025 is an example of innovation in action. Since our last briefing on this topic, the rate of AI adoption has accelerated as businesses seek to keep pace and innovate. For beauty brands, retailers, and consumers, this shift is reshaping how products are created, marketed, and experienced.

Welcome to the latest edition of our UPC update, which comes shortly after the court celebrated its second birthday. In this edition, we report on the first decision relating to infringement of second medical use patents, as well as a number of important procedural developments.

The UK Intellectual Property Office has issued a  Practice Amendment Notice providing guidance on trade mark specifications following the Supreme Court’s judgment in SkyKick. The guidance clarifies the approach applicants should take when drafting trade mark specifications, and the judgment's impact on examination of new trade mark applications.

The much-anticipated High Court proceedings between Getty Images and Stability AI got underway last week with a selection of Getty's arguments being ruled inadmissible on the first day of trial.

As many people are all too well aware, recruitment can be a long and drawn-out process. In order to maximise efficiency and find the best talent, AI and machine learning are increasingly being relied upon to assist with recruitment. In this fast-evolving world, buying or selling a recruitment business powered by AI presents unique challenges and opportunities.

On Tuesday, 10 June, Mishcon de Reya partnered with Oxfordshire Greentech for the "Climate Solutions Conference: Ashes to Action".

In order to help speed up processes and find the best talent, employers are increasingly turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist with recruitment. However, concerns could arise under data protection law, if the use of some features of these tools lead to discrimination based on the inference of special category data, such as race or religion. Such categories of personal data will often also constitute protected characteristics for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.

Laurel, formerly known as Time by Ping, an AI-Time company and a 2017 alumnus of Mishcon de Reya's MDR Lab, has announced its $100 million Series C funding round. The investment was led by IVP, with participation from Google Ventures, 01.a, Rahul Mehta (Managing Partner at DST Global), DST Global, Alexis Ohanian, and returning investors ACME and Anthos.

As generative AI continues to advance rapidly, it is raising fundamental questions at the intersection of technology and creative rights. Central to the debate is how the law should apply to the use of massive datasets, often containing copyright protected works, to train the powerful generative AI systems.