IPKat: Latest posts by Darren Smyth

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February 13, 2012
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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 the analysis of inventive step in the case of a product claim defined structurally.

No self-incrimination privilege for phone hacking relates to proceedings in the Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking at the News of the World.



Recent Case Reports

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Closest Prior Art Not Quite Close Enough
29 May 2026
WIRPLAST v VILPE (UPC Munich, April 2026): a roof-fan disclosure was a fair starting point, but the patent for a through-roof ventilation pipe with a spirit level survived; the skilled person would not have leaped.
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Transfer of costs application from Court of Appeal to Court of First Instance rejected
22 April 2026
The UPC Court of Appeal ruled that it lacks jurisdiction to assess costs applications and confirmed they must be filed at the Court of First Instance, rejecting a transfer request in Rematec v Europe Forestry.
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Revocation of an independent claim does not automatically affect the validity of unchallenged dependent claims
21 April 2026
In Emporia v Seoul Viosys, the UPC Central Division confirmed that the revocation of an independent claim does not automatically affect the validity of unchallenged claims. The decision underscores the importance of challenging all relevant claims where full patent revocation is sought.
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