by Miriam Büttner On 27 November 2012 the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) decided on the ethical problematical question, if neural precursor cells which origin from human stem cells are patentable or not (case no. X ZR 58/07). Background of the decision: Subject of this BGH decision is the validity of German patent no. 197…
In two months, the U.S. patent system will begin its transition from the current “first to invent” system to a new “first-inventor-to-file” system. Inventors and applicants should be considering whether patent applications that may be ready for filing should be filed before or after the March 16, 2013 effective date of the U.S. first-to-file laws. …
On 11 December 2012 Advocate General Yves Bot delivered his conclusions on the complaints brought by Italy and Spain against the Coucil’s decision to proceed through enhanced cooperation to the adoption of the unitary patent regulation, and proposed the CJEU to reject the complaints. As many will remember, the discussions on the adoption of the…
As in some other jurisdictions, under Spanish law so-called “mini-inventions” may be protected by a utility model (called “petty” patents in some countries). The two main differences between a patent and a Spanish utility model are: (i) in the case of utility models, the state of the art includes everything “divulged” in Spain before the…
The number of patent infringement suits filed with the District Court of Düsseldorf remains constantly high. In addition to the two existing patent litigation chambers (chamber 4a presided by Dr. Crummenerl and chamber 4b presided by Ms Voss), the Court now installed a third 4c chamber. This new 4c chamber already started its work at…
Following the positive vote by the European Parliament on 10 December 2012 and the European Council of Minister’s adoption of the Regulation EU/1257/2012 on the Unitary Patent and the Regulation EU/1260/2012 on Translation Arrangements on 17 December 2012 and their publication in the OJ L 361 of 31 December 2012, the legislation process for the…
“It’s the same thing night on night / Who’s wrong baby who’s right / Another fight and I slam the door on / Another battle in our dirty little war / When I look at myself I don’t see the man I wanted to be / Somewhere along the line I slipped off the track…
An applicant for re-establishment of rights who fails to substantiate his request adequately in first-instance proceedings cannot normally remedy that failure by submitting additional evidence with the grounds for appeal. An appellant does not have an absolute right to introduce new evidence with the statement of ground of appeal. Click here for the full text of…
As Christmas is coming closer, the “where is the Christmas stand?”-question comes up again. This little piece of engineering only used once a year is not only subject matter of several patents but has kept the Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf busy, too (docket No. I-2 U 84/03). Who could imagine that a Christmas stand…
The Supreme Court held that the relevant date of a patent’s enforceability, in case a Spanish translation is required for such enforceability, is the date of announcement of the grant of the patent by the EPO, rather than the date of actual filing of the Spanish translation at the Spanish Patent Office, or the publication…
