Case Reports

Over a decade ago, in 2013, when I was writing for the IPKat, I wrote a post opining that the UPC Agreement should produce a harmonisation of the substantive law of patent infringement across...

The first batch of unitary patents was registered this week. According to the European Patent Register, 609 requests for unitary effect have been allowed and published on Monday 12 June 2023.

Today is Unitary Patent day!In principle, a Unitary Patent could be obtained for a European Patent granted from 1 June 2023. But in practice, the European Patent Office only publishes grant of...

After more than 50 years in the making, the Unified Patent Court finally launches today – 1 June 2023. This represents the most significant development in European patent law and practice since the...

Owners of EP applications and patents will have almost certainly have had requests by now asking whether they wish to opt their patents/applications out of the jurisdiction of the UPC.

Key points: OPT-OUT / OPT-IN / Art. 83 UPCA / TRANSITIONAL REGIMEImmediately prior to the launch of the UPC, there is heated debate among patent owners as to whether or not to declare an "opt-out"...

On 21 and 22 March a panel from EIP Latest hosted an informative webinar where they discussed everything your business needs to know about the effect of the incoming Unitary Patent and Unified Patent...

The grant of a European Patent allows patent rights to be obtained in respect of over 35 states by means of the respective validation procedures for those states.

Following news of Germany's depositing its instrument of ratification of the UPC agreement on 17 February, mark your calendars for 1 June when the Unified Patent Court (UPC) will begin operations in...

The Registry of the Unified Patent Court maintains a number of Registers which are publicly accessible via their website at www.unified-patent-court.org.

Member States of the EU that have already ratified the UPC Agreement (or in the case of Germany has indicated it will do so) and so will take part in the UPC as soon as it commences are:Austria,...

The Unitary Patent will be a single patent right, obtained via the European Patent Office, covering all EU Member States which have ratified the agreement at the patent grant date.

The project to establish a Unitary Patent in Europe and a Unified Patent Court to handle patent infringement litigation for European patents is underway again.

Columbia Pictures, Disney, Netflix & Ors v British Telecommunications, Sky, Virgin & Ors [2021] EWHC 2799 (Ch)The applicants (the "Studios") are members of popular studio groups who own the copyright...

Dear young Vanessa,I know you’re about to undergo another operation, in fact I’ve lost count. You were born with a congenital deformity, despite having many surgeries, it’s a long- term condition but...

Every time I start talking about mental health, I always add a caveat. It varies in tone from regretful to wry, but it always carries the same message. "I do not speak for everyone," it says.

Claire Stone (“Stone”) pursued a trademark infringement case against Alexandra Wenman (“Wenman”) for the use of the sign “ARCHANGEL ALCHEMY”. Wenman made a counter claim for passing off which...

Much has been written about the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and its potential to reshape everyday life.This potential is already being realised in healthcare, with health...

Kelly-Marie Smith, a singer/songwriter and member of the Voice UK duo Nu-Tarna, brought a copyright action against nine defendants including members of the band “Rudimental” and James Newman.

In the previous articles, we looked at the mechanics of filing a patent application. In this last article of our ‘Ask the Experts' series, we will be addressing some of the other ways in which a...

Why do patents take so long to grant?Progressing a patent family through to grant can take a notoriously long amount of time, particularly when an applicant is looking to protect their invention in a...

Last week, the UK Government announced that sales of new petrol and diesel heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) will be banned by 2040. The UK's Road Haulage Association supports the aim, but in a press...

IntroductionIt is said that ‘if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck'. However, if a claim refers to ‘a duck' feature, what does that imply about how the claimed...

Fox Group International Ltd (“Fox”) pursued a claim for trade mark infringement and passing off against Teleta Pharma Limited (“Teleta”) but later discontinued after establishing the goods were...

Add2 Research and Development Ltd v dSPACE Digital Signal Processing & Control Engineering GMBH & Anor [2021] EWHC 1630 (Pat) (https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2021/1630.

The United States Supreme Court issued a ruling on United States v. Arthrex on Monday 21 June, addressing the constitutionality of the way in which the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) is...

The UK High Court dismissed Puma SE's ("Puma") appeal against UK IPO decision O-415-20 (the "Decision") relating to the registration of the word mark "FOOTWARE" by Nike Innovate C.V ("Nike).

EIP has today topped the rankings in a special report commissioned by the FT of Europe’s Leading Patent Law Firms. This is the third year the FT has prepared this joint report with Statista and each...