Technology IP & Licensing

Importers and customs teams can no longer assume tariff-free entry for branded or patented drug shipments into the United States and must fold additional import charges into landed-cost calculations. Suppliers of inputs for patented medicines face new customs exposure and must renegotiate commercial terms or absorb increased import-related costs.

Generics are excluded and the administration has already finalized deals that exempt 13 drugmakers so far, with a total of 17 firms in various stages of agreements that carry tariff relief for three years. Tariffs are cut to 15% for drugs produced in the European Union, Japan, South Korea and Switzerland under existing trade deals, while firms that relocate production to the United States can qualify for a reduced 20% tariff; the United Kingdom has a separate arrangement.

The decision prevents courts from treating common broadband providers as de facto copyright police, blocking orders that would force mass subscriber terminations or continuous network policing to avoid DMCA exposure. Rights holders will face higher hurdles to obtain damages tied solely to subscriber conduct.

The order removes the legal basis for indefinite administrative delay by requiring the patent office to adopt and follow binding internal deadlines for case disposal. Parties with pending applications or oppositions must now operate under shortened, enforceable timelines rather than open-ended review schedules.

Emotional Perception AI applied for a patent for an artificial neural network that recommends media files and can produce files to evoke similar emotional responses. The UK Intellectual Property Office refused the application in 2022. The Supreme Court ruled that a computer program can be patented if it involves use of physical hardware and found that an artificial neural network operates on hardware and could in principle be patentable. The court returned the case to the UK Intellectual Property Office to decide whether to grant the patent.