On July 20, 2022, the Japan Intellectual Property High Court (“IP High Court”) rendered the first-ever decision allowing enforcement of Japanese patent rights against infringing acts partially committed outside of Japan (Case No. 2018 (Ne) 10077). The plaintiff Dwango Co., Ltd. sued co-defendants FC2, Inc. (U.S. company) and Homepage System, Inc. (Japanese company), alleging that…

This decision dealt with the practically important question of whether the claim can still be waived in the proceedings on the complaint against denial of leave to appeal, i.e. after the conclusion of the appeal proceedings. This becomes particularly relevant if the patent in suit is held invalid and the opposing party does not agree…

The claimed methods of filtering, highlighting, and selecting portions of maps or other visual information for display had long been done by hand, and the claims failed to describe specific technological improvements making them patent-eligible. Two IBM software patents related to graphical display technology were invalid for claiming ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. §…

Geofabrics Limited v Fiberweb Geosynthetics Limited [2022] EWHC 2363 (Pat) Geofabrics Limited (“Geofabrics”) has been awarded £13.4 million in damages for patent infringement, concluding a 5 year long dispute with Fiberweb Geosynthetics Limited (“Fiberweb”).  Damages inquiries are rare in the UK so this judgment from Charlotte May KC (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge),…

Although the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (AUPC) cannot be considered Union (EU) Law, it is couched in the wording of EU legal acts seeking to create “unitary patent protection” as part of “enhanced cooperation” between Member States enshrined in Articles 326 et seq. of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union…

In a case where the patent is not opposed in its entirety, the opposition being directed at certain claims only, and where the Opposition Division decides that all of the proprietor’s requests in relation to the opposed claims must fail, only the unopposed claims, which are not part of any opposition proceedings, are left standing….

The U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allow parties to obtain discovery regarding any matter that is relevant to a party’s claim or defense. One important caveat to this general principle is that attorney-client communications and work product are privileged and protected from discovery. Generally speaking, when a party divulges privileged information to a third…

The Spanish Supreme Court rules in a patent ownership and trade secret dispute where a company had filed a patent application which named as inventor the husband of the company’s founder, who had previously led an R&D project funded by a competitor. The Court sets a high standard for ownership claims and, at the same…

On 24 August 2022, Nicholas Caddick QC (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court) handed down his decision in Vernacare Limited v Moulded Fibre Products Limited [2022] EWHC 2197 (IPEC), a case on open topped washbowls made from moulded paper pulp, such as those used in hospitals, care homes…

Recently, the decisions of courts in the United Kingdom (UK) in Unwired Planet v Huawei Technologies (Unwired Planet) and Optis Cellular Technology v Apple (which followed the decision of the UK Supreme Court in Unwired Planet) have given rise to significant debate over the appropriate forum for litigation of disputes in relation to standard essential…