Photo by: Anke Moerland
Professor Ilanah Fhima was invited to speak at an International conference organised by the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to mark 25 years of case law from the EUIPO Boards of Appeal. The event brought together leading intellectual property experts from multiple jurisdictions, including representatives from IP offices, lawmakers, judges, academics and lawyers. It was the biggest event that the EUIPO has ever organised with over 1,000 participants attending (in person or remotely) from over 50 countries.
Held over two days at the EUIPO in Alicante, the programme adopted a sectorial approach – in which an expert panel reviewed case law developments and challenges in different sectors, including health, fashion, the environment, artificial intelligence, and the food industry.
Speaking on the healthcare panel, and based upon her recent published research Professor Fhima presentation adopted a comparative law approach to identify the potential scope of the new functionality doctrine for non-conventional pharma trade marks under UK and EU, as well as explaining other potential difficulties for securing protection for such marks. The other speakers on the panel included Marco Aleman, Assistant Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Virginia Melgar, Chair of the EUIPO’s Fifth Board of Appeal and Albert Zervas, Judge at the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.
Speaking after the event, Professor Fhima commented:
"It was an honour to be asked to speak at such a wide-ranging and informative event. The scope and scale of the event, as well as the huge number of keen participants, underlines the huge contribution that the EUIPO Boards of Appeal have made to European trade mark law over the past 25 years."
Find out more about the IP Case Law Conference.
Find out more about Professor Fhima’s research.
UCL Laws ranked 3rd in the UK in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026
UCL Faculty of Laws has been ranked one of the UK’s top universities for studying law.
06 Oct 2025
John Arthur Platt (1860–1925): A UCL Professor of Greek and English Poet
In the early twentieth century, there were two professors in the Department of Greek and Latin at UCL who were not only scholars of ancient literature but also wrote poetry in English.
22 Jan 2026
Prehistoric tool made from elephant bone is the oldest discovered in Europe
A 500,000-year-old elephant-bone hammer uncovered in southern England has been analysed by archaeologists from the UCL Institute of Archaeology and the Natural History Museum, London.
21 Jan 2026