Good news / BAD news – March 2026

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Welcome to the (lucky!) thirteenth edition of the “Good News / BAD New” Blog!

Our BAD Team (that is, our Brands, Advertising and Designs Team), serves as trusted advisers to some of the most valuable brands in the world, and we wanted to share our recent experiences in the hope of helping brand owners navigate the ever-changing landscape.

We have summarised some of the things we think you should know about right now…

1. All about AI…

Best practice guidance

If you attended our ADVice seminar in January, you may recall that we mentioned that we thought we could see further guidance on the use of AI in advertising. 

Just a few days later the Advertising Association published a new ‘Best Practice Guide for the Responsible Use of Generative AI in Advertising’. 

It’s a voluntary guide but provides some general recommendations designed to help brands engage with AI in a way that helps to mitigates some of the potential risks from using AI.  The guide focuses on eight key principles covering transparency, data use, fairness, human oversight, harm prevention, brand safety, environmental considerations and continuous monitoring. 

Focusing on transparency, as we often get asked whether brands need to disclose use of AI.  This guidance states (our emphasis):

“The decision to disclose GenAI use should be proportionate to the potential for consumer harm or misinterpretation.  Content that is clearly deceptive or misleading should never be used, whether GenAI-use is disclosed or not. Content that could potentially confuse consumers about facts, product capabilities, endorsements, or the reality of depicted events would benefit from clear disclosure. Content that is obviously fictional, fantastical, or impossible does not typically require AI-specific labelling, though standard advertising disclosure rules would still apply.”

Therefore, there is still no requirement to disclose AI usage within advertising.  The key question is around potential for misleadingness and/or harm.  We would be happy to discuss this with you.

The full guide can be found here.

Other AI updates

·       In our previous blog post, we reported on the highly anticipated Getty Images v. Stability AI judgment, which was handed down by the UK Supreme Court at the end of last year (covered in depth here).

·       The Regional Court of Munich handed down a landmark decision on the usage of copyright-protected content in AI training in November 2025.  The AI tool ChatGPT was able to reproduce lyrics from well-known German songs almost verbatim and thus, the German collective society GEMA sued OpenAI for copyright infringement. In its ruling, the Court held that this was in fact copyright-relevant memorisation and that the text or data mining exception under the Digital Single Market Directive did not apply. 

Our teams in Germany, France and UK have discussed key issues in copyright protection and AI in their article, including:

• The reasoning behind the German court’s decision,
• The French approach to text and data mining,
• Why the High Court in London rejected copyright claims in a similar decision regarding usage of copyrighted images to train StabilityAI,
• What is currently being argued in front of the European Court of Justice regarding Google’s Gemini chatbot.
• Further east, Chinese courts appear to be standing firm on their position that AI models are a service rather than a product and users should be cautious when being relied on.  Our Chinese colleagues have published an article exploring how Gen AI-users are struggling to succeed in claims against hallucinating AI models here.
• Some of our UK team and colleagues across the firm have written an article for The Independent exploring how unchecked AI systems could spark corporate governance scandals and litigation and how business leaders can stay ahead of these risk.
• Waves from across the Pond

Following a trip to the ANA Masters of Advertising Law Conference in Chicago, Dan Smith (our Head of Advertising law) and members of our Canadian AdLaw practice have put together a useful guide comparing how current advertising trends of deceitful claims, influencer marketing and greenwashing are being addressed in the US vs Europe vs Canada – read the full article here.  

• New Year, New You… New Food Rules

It seems the regulators are putting us all on a health kick this year! 

The new restrictions on advertising “less-healthy” foods across TV and paid-for spaces came into force on 5 January 2026.  These rules will be (primarily) enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), and the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) issued helpful (albeit late-in-the-day) guidance illustrating the likely approach of the ASA.

To stay in shape and avoid a complaint, read our full debrief here.

• Green claims are so last year

At the end of last year, we had a series of ASA rulings arising from the use of the word “sustainable” in the fashion industry.  Just before Christmas, Lacoste, Nike and Superdry were the subject of upheld rulings.  As always, the ASA acknowledged that these brands might have a good story to tell about their sustainability efforts but that does not justify a broad “sustainable” claim as the products come with some kind of environmental detriment.  To avoid this unfashionable mistake, read our article here.  

We have also prepared a comprehensive guide covering the risks of greenwashing and how to avoid it, which is increasingly critical to business success. We explore key regulations and the role of good governance to ensure your business is setting clear ESG goals.  The guide can be downloaded here.

• Consumer is key

UK updates

In our previous blog post, we celebrated the half-year anniversary of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA) and talked about the early enforcement action being taken.

We have now seen the first fine issued under the DMCCA.  The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has imposed a penalty of £473,000 for failing to respond to a request for information (rather than for a breach of consumer law). 

We co-hosted a ‘Consumer Protection’ event with the CMA at our Birmingham office on 2 March. 

The event included a keynote address from Hayley Fletcher (Senior Director of Consumer Protection, CMA) and an informative panel discussion.  The panel was hosted by Jocelyn Paulley (Co-leader of our Retail & Leisure Sector) and panellists were Hayley Fletcher, Dan Smith, Dr Sarah Wei (Warwick Business School) and Michael Yurko (Office for Product Safety and Standards).

The messaging was clear:

• It has been a very busy 11 months since April 2025!
• The DMCCA is not a minor update; it represents a significant shift in consumer law, putting it on a similar footing to data protection and competition law. 
• The changes should be seen as positive for businesses and the economy as well as for consumers, since businesses should be able to compete vigorously on merit, not manipulation.
• Enforcement priorities are aligned with the 4Ps (pace, predictability, proportionality and process) and the regulator will be focusing on consumer redress and where there is the greatest harm, including areas of essential spend.
• It would be incorrect to think that the CMA’s focus is only on large businesses – the law applies equally to all businesses and the harm being caused by small businesses may justify enforcement.
• The CMA welcomes complaints from businesses as well as consumers and consumer groups – it can’t guarantee that all complaints will be investigated but it will help shape the CMA’s understanding of potential issues.

The CMA has launched a consultation on its draft guidance on unfair contract terms, see here.  The consultation closes on 19 March. 

European updates

In Europe, there is new consumer protection legislation coming. 

From 19 June 2026, EU Regulation 2023/2673 introduces a mandatory electronic withdrawal option for distance contracts. Online platforms must provide a clearly visible and permanently accessible “withdrawal button” enabling consumers to withdraw from contracts as easily as they conclude them.

Key obligations for providers include:

• offering an easily identifiable and accessible withdrawal button across all pages of the platform; and
• ensuring the consumer receives a confirmation of receipt of the withdrawal.

Member States must transpose this new right into national law by June 2026 and non‑compliance by providers may trigger sanctions.

Our teams in France and Germany stand ready to support you with tailored guidance and implementation advice.  Please do contact them for advice.

• Events

We hosted our ‘ADVice 2026’ seminar on 29 January 2026.

Dan Smith, Zoe Pearman and Alex Gill spoke about the about the biggest developments in advertising law in 2025.  Topics included the new consumer law in the DMCCA, the changing landscape of UK advertising regulation, greenwashing, comparative advertising, the new restrictions on advertising less healthy foods and a data protection update focused on marketing/advertising.

We hope all who attended had an enjoyable evening. If you missed out, fear not, as this is one of our key annual events and will be returning in 2027.   In the meantime, Zoe will be recording a short podcast on the DMCCA in readiness for the launch of our new DMCCA webpage – coming soon!  Otherwise, if you would like to discuss any of the issues covered by this event, please get in touch with the team.

Other events and highlights:

·       John Coldham spoke at the first ever MARQUES Design Symposium in Frankfurt to discuss how design registrations can provide clarity, certainty and competitive advantage, but need to be seen as part of the overall picture of how IP can help meet your commercial objectives.  His panel included both in-house and European experts examining how best to take action against the copies.

·       Dan Smith chaired a panel titled ‘Greenwashing: Issues at Stake’ at the Consumer Protection Forum discussing the review of recent greenwashing cases and practical lessons for compliance.

More dates for your diary…

The BAD team are going to be busy!

·       INTA is coming to London.  Here’s a reminder of our guide we published in November with top tips from our London team! It includes lots of suggestions that are off the beaten track and things you must not miss while you are here.  Let us know if you are visiting London for the conference as many members of our global team will be in town.

·       Our ThinkHouse Brands, Advertising and Designs seminar will take place on 2 July 2026 in London.  We are also planning for a Paris tour date!  More details on these seminars will follow.

• Recognition

World Trademark Review

We’re really thrilled to be recognised in WTR 1000 2025 among the top international trademark firms.  We’ve earned top-tier Gold rankings for its domestic practices in Canada, France, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as for foreign practice in China. Notably, we retained gold tier status in Canada (Firms) and the UAE (Firms).

In addition, 37 Gowling WLG trademark professionals were named in this year’s guide including Kate Swaine, John Coldham, Dan Smith, Alex Brodie and Huw Evans in the UK.

Managing IP

The MIP awards nominations are out and we could not be prouder of both the BAD Team and the wider Gowling WLG IP team!

We have been nominated for impact cases for Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) v Molecular Instruments and Tesla v InterDigital & Avanci as well as European cross border team of the year. We have also been nominated for an embarrassing number of awards, particularly in the global category. In no particular order, we have been nominated for:

• Global Firm of the Year (!!!)
• United Kingdom (England): Trademark Disputes (Law Firms); IP Transactions & Advisory; IP Transactions Lawyer of the Year: Patrick Duxbury; Patent Disputes (Law Firms); Patent Practitioner of the Year (Law Firms): Huw Evans and Rising Star of the Year (Law Firms): Chris Freeth
• France: Trademark Disputes (Law Firms): Gowling WLG and Rising Star of the Year: Alexis Augustin
• United Arab Emirates: Copyright & Designs; Patents; Trademarks; Practitioner of the Year: Jon Parker; Rising Star of the Year: Samantha Yung and Regional Middle East & North Africa Firm of the Year
• Europe: Patent Disputes (Law Firms)

We are so proud of the team and want to thank everyone who provided feedback.

• In the news

Finally:

• John Coldham has shared his thoughts with City AM regarding law firms taking legal action against legal AI companies over their name. Read the full article here.
• Dan Smith has been featured in The Observer discussing the new restrictions on advertising food and drink that are high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) which will come into force from 5th January 2026. Read the full article here.

Thank you to Dan Smith, Alessandra Birkendorf, Miray Kavruk and Alexis Augustin for their work in putting this summary together.