The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has published its Technology Short Pieces of Analysis, Research and Knowledge (SPARK) report on sports technology, analysing patents, trademarks and designs between 2016–25 to assess innovation trends. The report highlights that sports-related innovation is growing faster than global innovation, driven by equipment, data analytics, wearables and digital platforms. It finds increasing technological intensity across sport, with significant activity in golf, swimming and racket sports, and strong geographic concentration in Asia, North America and Europe. The analysis aims to demonstrate how intellectual property underpins technological development and commercialisation in sport.

The World IP Organization (WIPO) has released its 2024 World Intellectual Property Report on making innovation policy work for development. The report combines economic analysis with in-depth industry studies and establishes a new data-driven methodology to help policymakers make informed decisions by utilising existing local innovation capabilities and enhance their national innovation ecosystems. The Report also includes three case studies across the agriculture technology, motorcycle and video game industries, that involve eight countries. The case studies highlight how countries have successfully developed specialised trajectories within innovative and complex industries.

MLex: Methodologies for valuing fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) standard-essential patent (SEP) licences are improving but remain hampered by evidentiary limitations, disputed assumptions and divergent judicial approaches, according to a new report by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

IP analysis: For those planning on submitting a Hague design registration any time soon, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has updated its procedures which will take effect for any such registration applied for on, or after, 1 January 2025. William Burrell, partner and patent attorney at D Young & Co, provides a summary of the two main changes to take effect from this date.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has announced that final negotiations on the Design Law Treaty (DLT) will resume at the WIPO Diplomatic Conference, set to take place in Saudi Arabia between 11–22 November 2024. The DLT focuses on procedures for obtaining design protection and aims to make it easier and faster for designers to register and protect their work, both within their jurisdictions and abroad, by streamlining the design protection system. It also seeks to address the challenges of red tape that arise due to significantly differing design protection procedures across various countries.

The Law Society Wills and Inheritance Quality Scheme (WIQS) was launched in 2013 and operates through a series of prescriptive practice policies across the Will drafting and estate administration areas. The protocols and policies set out in the estate administration part of the WIQS scheme do not give a step-by-step method of conducting the administration, as this will depend on the assets and liabilities in the estate and the expertise of those dealing with the administration, as well as any recent developments in the law which may not have been incorporated into the protocols. However, it does provide a blueprint for how a practice must approach administration to be able to claim the certification of WIQS. WIQS—general principles As stated by the Law Society, WIQS is designed to produce a quality standard for the production of Wills and the administration of estates. It has a number of constituent parts: • the overseeing by (and responsibility of) the Senior Responsible Officer • the adoption of good practice management standards • adherence to a protocol which sets out the standards

The House of Commons Work & Pensions Committee (WPC) has published a letter calling on the government to introduce measures to compensate women born in the 1950s who have been affected by the Department for Work and Pensions' failure to communicate increases in the State Pension age from 1995 onwards. The WPC says that the evidence it has received suggest that payments should be based on the extent of change to an individual's State Pension age and the amount of notice they received of the changes. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, will face questions from the WPC on 22 May.

The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) has launched an inquiry into the transition to State Pension age to examine the pre-pension income gap and assess support available to those aged 60–66, as the State Pension age increases from 66 to 67 from April 2026. The Committee highlights that 22% of 60–64-year-olds lived in poverty in 2023/24—the joint poorest age group among working-age adults—often leaving work early due to ill health or caring responsibilities. The inquiry will investigate reasons for premature retirement, inequality, and the impact on pre-pensioner and pensioner poverty, and will explore potential mitigations such as early access to pensions, means-tested benefits, or employment support. Evidence submissions close on 19 December 2025.

The House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) had published its Defined benefit schemes report with recommendations to government. This report is related to the WPC inquiry into Defined Benefit (DB) schemes. The Government has two months to respond to the report .

The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) has published a letter sent to  the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions over the Norton Pension Schemes and the Fraud Compensation Fund inquiry. The letter provides a summary of the key points from the inquiry due to the WPC’s failure to agree a final report before the prorogation of Parliament on 24 May 2024. The inquiry raised a number of important questions such as whether the Pensions Regulator’s (TPR) remit should be extended to cover pension scheme administrators, whether TPR should have rule-making powers, whether some of the Pensions Ombudsman funding should be demand-led and what changes could be made to the Fraud Compensation Fund (FCF) and when payments can be made from it.

Law360: The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been asked whether it is considering a formal arbitration body to navigate future disputes between employers and trustees over who benefits from an estimated £160bn in surplus pension funds in defined benefit (DB) schemes.

The Welsh Revenue Authority (WRA) has announced that all accommodation providers charging for overnight stays in Wales will be legally required to register with the WRA. The new legislation applies to all forms of paid visitor accommodation—including spare rooms, holiday cottages, cabins, campsites, and hotels—regardless of the frequency of letting. Registration will open in autumn 2026 and will include penalties for non-compliance. This measure aims to support councils in implementing the Visitor Levy.