Federation Against Software Theft

On 7 May 2026, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional agreement on the Digital Omnibus[1], a set of targeted amendments to the EU AI Act designed to streamline and simplify certain provisions. Although the amendments are still proposals at this stage and not formally adopted, the agreement signals a pragmatic approach to implementation, most notably by extending key enforcement deadlines for rules governing high-risk AI systems.

Legislative Background The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill (the Bill) was introduced to Parliament on 12 November 2025, as a means to reduce the likelihood of cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure networks and strengthen national security.

The UK Government has encountered yet another roadblock in its efforts to introduce the long-anticipated Artificial Intelligence Regulation Bill (the AI Reg Bill) designed to govern the growth and development of AI within the UK. Initially proposed back in 2023, the AI Reg Bill aimed to establish a comprehensive statutory framework for AI regulation by codifying essential principles around safety, transparency and accountability.

In this bulletin, we will explore the latest legislative updates in the UK in the form of the Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill, and we will provide a progress update on the Data Use and Access Bill which we covered in our last edition.

In this newsletter, we explore some recent developments in the CJEU, with the EU court ruling on copyright protection for software variables. We also consider legislative updates, with a progress update on the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, and a new bill of interest in the form of the Data Use and Access Bill.

The King’s Speech[1] on 17 July, among other things addressed developments in AI, cyber security, data protection and introduced two new Bills: (1)the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, and (2) the Digital Information and Smart Data Bill. Neither of the Bills have been published yet. Although an ‘AI Bill’ was mentioned in the draft King’s Speech, this was not referenced on the 17th July.

©2024 The Federation Against Software Theft. Company No. 01821298 - VAT No. 404563570

The Court of Appeal has delivered its verdict, affirming the High Court’s decision at first instance and bringing the National Lottery prize claim to a close. Brief background Ms Parker-Grennan purchased a £5 ticket to play an interactive instant win game on the National Lottery website, which gives players the chance to win a cash prize ranging from £5 to £1 million.

In November 2023, the High Court handed down a ruling allowing patenting of artificial intelligence in the UK for the first time. Brief background Emotional Perception Ltd developed an AI application that recommended music to end users through use of a trained Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The ANN chooses music for users based on human perceptions and descriptions, and uses machine learning to develop suggestions without human input.

In the June 2023 FAST newsletter, we went through the important copyright case of Craig Wright (the Claimant) in the High Court regarding his status as the purported inventor of Bitcoin. The Australian computer scientist and self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto (the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin) had a copyright claim for Bitcoin rejected by a UK Court.