Infringement Matters

The “Doctrine of Equivalents” has long been used by the German courts to extend patent claims so that they cover products and processes not covered by the specific language used in the claims, but which differ from the language used only in one or more “inessential variants”.

In a landmark decision (Actavis v Eli Lilly) in 2017, the UK Supreme Court indicated that a Doctrine of Equivalents should also be applied by UK courts. There are, however, some differences in the way that the Doctrine is applied in the UK. In this webinar, we review the Actavis v Lilly decision and consider the similarities and differences in the way the Doctrine of Equivalents is applied by selected national courts around Europe.

We also consider the thorny issue of how medical use claims can be enforced against competitors who are benefiting from cross label use and again survey the similarities and differences between the approaches taken by selected national courts around Europe.

Topics include:

• Doctrine of equivalents in key EPC states
• Enforcement of medical use claims against cross label or off-label use in EPC states