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Possible Settlement of CJEU Referral for SPCs from Finland As reported previously, courts in both Ireland (in February 2022, concerning Inegy®) and Finland (in November 2021, concerning Janumet®) have recently identified an apparent discrepancy in CJEU case law with respect to the interpretation of “product” in the SPC Regulation. In short, the courts in both countries determined a need for the CJEU to clarify whether the same criteria should apply for the purposes... Read more
Star Wars Day: How the Technology of Star Wars may not be so Far, Far Away
Star Wars Day: How the Technology of Star Wars may not be so Far, Far Away May the fourth be with you! Today is 4 May, affectionately known as Star Wars Day for its similarity to the wish for good fortune used in the Star Wars franchise, appealing to the mysterious “Force” which gives the Jedi their superhuman powers. The original Star Wars film was released in May 1977 and catapulted audiences into a world of... Read more
Alphafold – A Game Changer in Machine Learning Research
Alphafold – A Game Changer in Machine Learning Research Introduction Proteins are a class of macromolecules which carry out a wide range of functions. For example, proteins are essential for photosynthesis, producing energy from food, contracting muscle fibres and DNA replication, and form the building blocks of bone, skin and the immune system. Proteins are formed of chains of amino acids. There are twenty different amino acids which are... Read more
Celebrating Earth Day: How Investing in IP can be an Investment in the Planet
Celebrating Earth Day: How Investing in IP can be an Investment in the Planet Earth Day is an annual global event created in 1970 to raise awareness of growing environmental concerns. This year’s Earth Day, which falls on April 22, has the theme “Invest in our Planet”. For many of the supporters of Earth Day this investment will be of time. Across the world, from Cambridge to California, from Nanjing to Nairobi, people will... Read more
EPO Further Extends Video Conference for Opposition Division Oral Proceedings until 31 December 2022 The EPO has announced that it is once again extending the use of video conference for opposition division oral proceedings. The current measures, whereby all opposition division oral proceedings take place by video conference, were due to expire on 31 May 2022. We understand that this announcement means that no opposition division oral proceedings will take place in-person until after 31 December... Read more
Russian Government Takes Powers to Appropriate IP Rights Without Compensation Where Proprietors are from “Unfriendly Countries” The government of the Russian Federation has adopted on 7 March 2022 a decree which provides that no compensation is payable when a patent, utility model or industrial design is subjected to a compulsory license, if the proprietor is from a country carrying out “unfriendly activities”. The list of countries deemed to be carrying out “unfriendly” activities in relation to the Russian... Read more
China Joins the Hague System for International Registration of Industrial Designs On 5 February 2022 China announced it is joining the Hague System for International Registration of Industrial Designs. From 5 May 2022, Applicants will be able to designate China as part of an International Design Application along with other major jurisdictions that include the USA, EU, UK, Japan and Canada. The announcement also states that the Chinese office have made Declarations requiring... Read more
Brits Abroad – Where do UK-based Applicants File for Patents?
Brits Abroad – Where do UK-based Applicants File for Patents? Following on from our article “Decline of the Garden Shed Inventor“, (see here), a second research report from the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) provides further analysis of the filing behaviours of UK-based patent applicants over the last 20 years. Whilst many of the report’s findings will be no surprise to those familiar with standard patent filing strategies, the report... Read more
EPO Board of Appeal Finds “No Legal Basis” for Requirement to Adapt the Description to Conform to the Claims Background As applicants and representatives will be well-aware, the EPO has, for a very long time, required that the description of a patent application be amended prior to grant to ensure that it “conforms” to the allowed claims. Traditionally such amendments took the form of amending the “summary of the invention” or similar introductory portion of the application to recite... Read more
EPO Announces End of Arrangements to Automatically Obtain Priority Documents from Certain Other Patent Offices The European Patent Office (EPO) has been participating in WIPO’s Digital Access Service (DAS) for the exchange of certified copies of priority documents since 2018 (see our earlier report here). Initially, the EPO’s participation in DAS did not affect pre-existing arrangements through which the EPO automatically obtained copies of Japanese, Chinese, Korean and US priority applications even when a DAS... Read more
EPO Further Extends Videoconference for Opposition Division Oral Proceedings until 31 May 2022 The EPO has announced that it is further extending the use of videoconference for opposition division oral proceedings until 31 May 2022. The current measures, whereby all opposition division oral proceedings take place by videoconference, were due to expire on 31 January 2022. We understand that this announcement means that no opposition division oral proceedings will take place in-person until... Read more
Measures Being Taken by EPO, EUIPO, WIPO and UK IPO in Relation to COVID-19 Pandemic The European Patent Office (EPO), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the International Bureau (IB) of WIPO all remain operational and will allocate filing dates for newly filed cases and accept other submissions/fee payments as normal. However, a number of measures have been adopted by the offices to assist applicants in view... Read more
Current Patenting Issues in Europe Facing Life Sciences/Biotech Innovators and Effective Claim Drafting Strategies to Avoid Pitfalls This paper was originally submitted to the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) ahead of its 2021 Annual Meeting and was the subject of a presentation at a plenary session there on 28 October 2021. The author, Andrew Bentham, is a partner in the Biotechnology and Life Sciences group of J A Kemp LLP (Cambridge, UK). If you wish to... Read more
Written Decision Referring Questions Concerning the Doctrine of Plausibility to the Enlarged Board of Appeal in G2/21 Now Available We reported in August 2021 that the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) would be considering the doctrine of plausibility at the EPO. The written decision of Board of Appeal making the referral is now available (see here), and the referral has been assigned the number G2/21. The final questions referred to the EBA are as follows: “If for acknowledgement... Read more
EPO Issues Written Decision in G1/21 Concerning Videoconference Oral Proceedings The EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) has today issued its written decision in case G1/21, which concerns the legality of holding oral proceedings by video conference without the consent of the parties. As previously reported (see here), the EBA issued an order (without detailed reasoning) in July 2021, which stated: “During a general emergency impairing the parties’ possibilities to... Read more
Important Step Forward for UPC as Germany Ratifies PAP-Protocol Following rejection of the constitutional challenge against Germany’s participation in the Unified Patent Court (UPC) reported here, on 27 September 2021 Germany ratified the Protocol on the Provisional Application of the UPC Agreement (PAP-Protocol). The PAP-Protocol brings certain aspects of the UPC Agreement into force provisionally, allowing the UPC to be set up as an institution before the UPC system... Read more
Spotlight on Sustainability at Tokyo 2020
Spotlight on Sustainability at Tokyo 2020 Aside from the achievements in the sporting events, Tokyo 2020 is noteworthy for the spotlight it put on sustainability. Symbolic items – podiums, torches, medals – were made using recycled materials. The Olympic flame was relayed in a torch of recycled aluminium from prefabricated housing units in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Athletes stepped onto podiums... Read more
Medicinal Cannabis – an Old Crop Turns Over a New Leaf
Medicinal Cannabis – an Old Crop Turns Over a New Leaf “Medicinal cannabis” is often used as a broad catch-all term used for any kind of cannabis-based medicine used to provide a therapeutic effect, rather than for purely recreational use. Human beings have been using cannabis for medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Indeed, cannabis appears in the oldest Chinese pharmacopoeia from around 100 AD and is one of the fifty... Read more
High Court Judgment Highlights the Importance (or not) of the Location of Physical Servers when Considering Infringement The High Court has handed down a judgment in the case of Promptu Systems Corporation v Sky UK Limited et al. The case related to the alleged infringement by Sky’s Sky Q subscription television service of a European (UK) patent owned by Promptu. A number of issues were considered relating to infringement and validity, with the court eventually finding that... Read more
Update on G1/21 Concerning the Legality of Oral Proceedings Held by Video Conference Without the Consent of the Parties The EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) is currently considering in case G1/21 the legality of holding oral proceedings by video conference without the consent of the parties (see our reports here, here and here). On Friday 2 July 2021, the postponed oral proceeding took place before the EBA. The appellant (opponent) initially raised further objections to the composition of... Read more
UK National Security and Investment Act – Impact on Intellectual Property On 29 April 2021, legislation giving powers to the UK Government to scrutinise transactions on grounds of national security (the UK National Security and Investment Act, “NSIA“) was enacted into UK law. The NSIA includes various provisions relating to mandatory and voluntary notifications of transactions that may be relevant to UK national security, including transactions relating to intellectual property (IP)... Read more
Open Source and Patents: Share Your Cake and Eat It Too
Open Source and Patents: Share Your Cake and Eat It Too The open-source movement has been around for decades and has provided freedom to users and programmers to use and develop existing software. Unlike industries involving physical products, the low barrier of entry to software development and distribution has meant that many users find themselves having the knowledge and resources to contribute to software development, but at times prevented from doing... Read more
EPO Extends Mandatory Video Conference for Opposition Division Oral Proceedings until 31 January 2022 The EPO has announced that it is extending the use of video conference for opposition division oral proceedings until 31 January 2022. The current measures, whereby all opposition division oral proceedings take place by video conference, were due to expire on 15 September 2021. We understand that this announcement means that no opposition division oral proceedings will take place in-person... Read more
EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal Answers Questions Regarding Patent Eligibility of Technical Simulations The EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal has issued a decision concerning the patent eligibility of technical simulations. Our news item discussing the initial referral can be found here. The Enlarged Board of Appeal’s decision can be found here. The three questions posed in the referral have been answered by the Enlarged Board of Appeal as follows: A computer-implemented simulation of... Read more
Restrictive Preliminary Injunction Practice in Germany Challenged Following Referral to CJEU Over the last few years certain Regional Courts in Germany have refused to grant preliminary injunctions to patentees unless the patent has been held valid in opposition proceedings at the European Patent Office (EPO), or in nullity proceedings before the German Federal Patent Court. This contrasts with practice elsewhere in Europe, including in the UK, where a preliminary injunction can... Read more
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