Case Reports

EPO publishes draft version of revised Guidelines for Examination 2012

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.

Compulsory licensing in India – Must products be manufactured locally?

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...

TRIPS and compulsory licensing

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.

India grants first compulsory licence

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.

Scientific publishing: learned society journals v commercial alternatives

The subject of today's IPKat post - The Cost of Knowledge - by Darren Smyth concerns a campaign against Elsevier, the publisher of academic journals.

EPO Boards of Appeal: recent decisions

Recent decisions of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO are now updated continuously on the EPO website.In today's IPKat blog, Darren Smyth highlights some noteworthy cases from the first two months of...

Owning Community registered design provides no protection from infringement proceedings

SummaryThe Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has confirmed that owning a Community registered design (CRD) does not provide a defence to an infringement action relating to earlier CRDs.

EPO and Google launch patent translation service

The European Patent Office (EPO) has launched a new patent translation service which uses Google's Translate technology.Reported by partner Darren Smyth via his IPKat blog, the service initially...

Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd v Medimmune Ltd & Anor – Self-perpetuating references to the CJEU

Multiple rulings of the CJEU on the SPC Regulation fail to answer questions posed by the national courts, result in greater confusion and give rise to a need for yet more references.

Colour and Composition: Just how relevant are they?

The issues of colour and composition form the basis of the questions referred to the CJEU by the Court of Appeal in this case of Specsavers International Healthcare & ors v Asda Stores Ltd.

Legitimate to improve your position in litigation by obtaining a new trademark registration – confirmation by UK Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that it can be acceptable to improve your position in litigation by obtaining a new trademark registration in the period between the start of infringing acts and...

IPKat: Latest posts by Darren Smyth

Partner Darren Smyth has made his second and third posts since joining the IPKat as a guest blogger.What is obvious - the route or the destination? is about the approach taken by patent offices to...

IPKat: Catalogue of Interest from the EPO

Following yesterday's announcement that Darren Smyth has been appointed as the third guest blogger on the IPKat, he has now made his first post.

Crystal polymorph patenting becomes more difficult in Europe

The EPO has just officially published (T 777/08 Atorvstatin Polymorphs OJEPO 12/2011 633-643) a decision of the Technical Boards of Appeal which surprisingly finds that, in general, a claim to a...

All in the American mind? US and UK take different approaches to assessing mental act exclusions

In a recent EIP newsflash we reported a recent development in the way the UK Intellectual Property Office handles subject matter excluded from patentability, based on a High Court judgement relating...