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.

On 7 April 2016 Advocate General Wathelethas delivered his opinion in GS Media BV v Sanoma Media Netherlands BV, Playboy Enterprises International Inc., Britt Dekker (Case C‑160/15).

In 2013, as part of the longstanding battle over Cadbury’s protection for the colour purple, the Court of Appeal (Société Des Produits Nestlé S.

The Supreme Court has upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision that the Kiddee Case produced by PMS did not infringe Magmatic’s Registered Community Design for the Trunki suitcase, “the CRD”.

A recent decision at the UK Intellectual Property Office emphasises again how important it is to establish ownership of rights in inventions (particularly before the first patent application is...

Jaguar Land Rover’s application to register an EU-wide trademark for the shape of one of their Land Rover cars has been rejected by the EU General Court.

Scammers who deceived intellectual property owners by issuing fraudulent renewal letters and invoices have been fined the maximum £500,000 penalty by the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court...

A consultation has been announced by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) seeking the views of patent holders and interested parties on proposed changes to the UK Patent Box scheme.

After years of debate, the European Parliament, European Council and European Commission have reached an agreement in relation to a new European Union trade mark reform package, which will provide a...

Alibaba is the largest e-commerce platform in China, and one of the biggest in the world. Its co-founder, Jack Ma, is the richest man in China; he is often compared to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs by...

In a recent decision of the UK Intellectual Property Office, an applicant for a UK patent was allowed to file a response to an examination report (“office action”) more than 18 months after the due...

In August 2013, I produced a short commentary regarding the decision of Mr Recorder Meade QC in SDL Hair Ltd v Next Row Ltd & Ors [2013] EWPCC 31, where Mr Meade was faced with the question of...

A decision from Mr Justice Birss inAdaptive Spectrum And Signal Alignment Inc v British Telecommunications Plc[2014] EWHC 4194 has introduced additional complications for parties found to infringe a...

C‑11/13 Bayer CropScience AG v Deutsches Patent- und MarkenamtThe Court of Justice of the European Union rules that a supplementary protection certificate (SPC) can be granted in respect of a safener.

A strong brand, and trademark protection, create business value. Indeed, intellectual property can become a company’s most valuable asset. Branding in sport is big business.

The question presented in Alice was whether claims directed to a computer-implemented scheme for mitigating “settlement risk” are patent eligible under 35 U. S. C. §101.