More than a dozen fertility patients won a London high court case to keep their embryos, eggs, and sperm stored, even though their legal consent to store them had expired. The consent had to be renewed every 10 years but was not because of clinic mistakes and COVID-19-related delays. The judge ruled the patients should not lose their chance to become parents just because of a clock ticking on paperwork. Lawyers representing 15 groups, including former cancer patients, asked the court to declare it legal for their material to stay stored. Some clinics failed to notify patients about renewing consent. None of the clinics, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, nor the health secretary opposed the case. Mrs Justice Morgan said the law on fertilisation and embryo storage was strict but should not be so rigid to harm parenthood chances. She said, "It is surely consent that is important, not consent by an immutable date. I find it hard to conclude that parliament intended the possibility of parenthood should be removed by the ticking of a clock." Under UK law, fertility clinics must get new written consent every decade to continue storing biological material. This rule protects people from having their cells used without permission. Because of pandemic delays, people using clinics on July 1, 2020, got a two-year extension to renew consent. Confusion about this extension meant some patients were not told to renew, causing their consents to expire. The court allowed continued storage in 14 of the 15 cases. In one case, where the storage was accidental and no original consent was given for an embryo, the court ruled against. Mrs Justice Morgan added, "To be permitted to take advantage of the storage of the embryo which they say ‘contradicted’ their express wishes because the clinic acted on the wrong consent form is not renewing consent. It is a change of consent."