Will Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) profit from the new Unitary Patent (UP) system and the Unified Patent Court (UPC)? Although it was certainly the idea, observers have disputed this and particularly warned that litigation under the new system exposes SMEs to enormous risks. There is now formal recognition they have a point: the European…
Wolters Kluwer is proud to launch its new Kluwer Trademark Blog, our latest IP Law blog, in addition to the successful Patent and Copyright law blogs. Trademark law is constantly developing, especially in the European Union (EU). Ever since the introduction of European law and increasingly so after the harmonisation of European trademark law, the…
Some musings about a song by Georg Kreisler and about the most recent plans of the President of the EPO to have the Boards of Appeal move to Vienna. The unforgettable Austrian–American Viennese-language cabarettist, satirist, composer, and author Georg Kreisler (1922-2011) once wrote a famous song having the title „Death must be a Viennese, just…
The creation of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) means that there will finally be a judiciary to control the very strong executive power of the European patent system, the European Patent Office, Jens Schovsbo, Professor at the Centre for Information and Innovation Law of the University of Copenhagen, told Kluwer IP Law in an interview. According…
The Oslo District Court held that the climbing skin concept “Fisher Easy Skin” for ski-grip on a snow base launched by the defendants Finor AS and Fischer Sports GmbH (hereinafter jointly “Fisher”), did not infringe Norwegian patent NO 318691 (the “Hartmann-patent”) to which Active Brands AS (hereinafter “Active Brands”) was an exclusive licensee. The Hartmann-patent…
In awarding plaintiff Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (“CSIRO”) $16,243,067 in damages for Cisco Systems’ (“Cisco’s”) infringement of CSIRO’s U.S. Patent No. 5,487,069 (“’069 patent”), the federal district court in Tyler, Texas, erred by not accounting for the ’069 patent’s standard-essential status and in its reasoning for discounting a relevant license agreement, the U.S….
A new decision by the German Federal Court of Justice (X ZR 112/13 – Teilreflektierende Folie) provides another illustrative example of the FCJ’s fairly generous and applicant-friendly case law on the allowability of amendments and priority. The patent at stake was a European Patent directed to the use of an image projector, a reflective surface…
Andorra has a well-deserved reputation as a wonder of nature. In spite of its tiny size (468 Km2) it offers the best of both worlds: endless trekking tracks leading you to the most remote lakes and peaks in summer, ski resorts with up to 193 km of slopes in a single resort in winter and,…
Prompted by the upcoming Unitary Patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court (UPC), a group of European patent attorneys decided in 2013 to create the European Patent Litigators Association (EPLIT), ‘promoting fair patent litigation in Europe’. Kluwer IP Law spoke to its president, Koen Bijvank. ‘It is unpredictable how the market for patent litigation will change…
by Miriam Büttner In a recent decision the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf (OLG Düsseldorf) had to deal with the right to sue of exclusive licensees (judgment of 24 September 2015, docket no. I-2 U 30/15). https://www.justiz.nrw.de/nrwe/olgs/duesseldorf/j2015/I_2_U_30_15_Urteil_20150924.html Background of the case was the request of an exclusive licensee for a preliminary in-junction against an alleged…
