In the middle of the turmoil caused by Brexit and the US elections tiny Switzerland (apropos, a country with an old democracy and some experience in implementing problematic election results as well) tries to find its way as to how to approach patent infringments by equivalent means. In a recent decision, the Swiss Supreme Court…

A former employee inventor’s obligation to sign a declaration of assignment of a patent application to the former employer can be enforced in summary proceedings pursuant to the Swiss Code of Civil Procedure’s provisions regarding “Clear Cases”, under threat of a criminal penalty against the former employee, and even after the termination of the employment…

Swiss Federal Patent Court, Case No O2013_006 (7 October 2015) The Swiss Federal Patent Court partially revoked/upheld the Swiss Part of EP 0 944 937 B1 concerning a hydraulic pressing device in nullity proceedings initiated by the Swiss Von Arx AG against the patent owner, the German Gustav Klauke GmbH. The patent in suit pertains…

If foreign counterparts of a European patent have been declared invalid in five European jurisdictions and the arguments in these court decisions are substantially convincing, the prima facie invalidity of the Swiss part of the same European patent is sufficiently established for the purposes of preliminary injunction proceedings. A full summary of this case has…

Dr Catherine Chammartin was appointed as new Director General of the Swiss Federal Office of Intellectual Property last week. She will take up her position on 1 November 2015. Dr Catherine Chammartin is not an insider of the Swiss IP community. The thirty-six-year old used to work for the Swiss State Secretariat for International Financial…

By Mark Schweizer, Reinhard Oertli and Simon Holzer The Swiss lawmaker plans to introduce a new exemption from patent protection for physicians and pharmacies. The new exemptions aims to protect physicians and pharmacies from being involved in patent disputes concerning second medical use claims according to the EPC 2000 (purpose-limited product Claims). From Swiss-type claims…

Although this is a patent law blog a recently published decision of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in an appeal against a dismissed request for a preliminary injunction in the copyright sector is worth being discussed in more detail here. It will make life harder also for petitioners who see their hopes dashed before the…