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.

In a recent IPKat post, Darren Smyth ponders whether the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office should be referring cases to the Enlarged Board of Appeal on matters of procedural...

Darren's Smyth's latest IPKat post concerns an action by Smith & Nephew to revoke a patent owned by Convatec Technologies for antimicrobial wound dressings impregnated with silver.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has referred a case relating to dried tomatoes to the Enlarged Board of Appeal for a second time.In his latest IPKat post, EIP's Darren Smyth discusses the most...

In ruling on an application to transfer a passing off and trade mark infringement action from the Patents County Court (PCC) to the High Court, HHJ Birss QC has provided further useful guidance for...

The OHIM has begun publishing information about Registered Community Design applications that have been refused.The designs themselves are not shown, but the grounds for refusal are now being made...

Two Sanofi-Aventis US patents for the cancer drug docetaxel, marketed as Taxotere, have been declared invalid by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The ongoing dispute between Apple and Samsung over Apple's Registered Community Designs for its iPad has now entered the UK courts.Darren Smyth's latest IPKat post relates to a decision of Mr Justice...

A Polish law which allowed the sale of unapproved drugs which were cheaper than those approved has been declared contrary to EU law.The decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union is...

In today's IPKat, Darren Smyth analyses the decision in Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc, Bayer Pharma AG v Genentech Inc, a case which started as an action for a declaration of invalidity of...

In a decision on 22 March in Teva and ors v AstraZeneca concerning a patent on a sustained release formulation of an anti-psychotic drug, Mr Justice Arnold revoked the patent due to obviousness.

Chancellor George Osborne confirmed in his 2012 Budget that the proposed Patent Box scheme will go ahead.When fully phased in, the rate of Corporation Tax on profits attributed to patents will be 10%.

The European Patent Office (EPO) has published the draft version of revised Guidelines for Examination 2012 online.Partner Darren Smyth casts his eye over the draft version in his latest IPKat post.

The first compulsory licence of an Indian patent since the TRIPS regime was implemented in India has been awarded. Although the licence relates to a pharmaceutical product, the grounds on which the...

Following on from his IPKat post about India granting its first compulsory licence, Darren Smyth explores what limitations the TRIPS agreement puts on compulsory licensing in his latest blog.

The first compulsory licence has been granted by the Controller of Patents Mumbai.The application concerns the anti-cancer drug Sorafenib, a patented drug owned by Bayer Corporation.