On 8 October 2024, Mr Justice Meade handed down judgment in BioNTech SE and Pfizer Inc., (together, BioNTech/Pfizer) v CureVac SE. Meade J found CureVac’s patents, relating to split poly(A) tails in mRNA, invalid for obviousness and insufficiency due to (i) lack of plausibility and (ii) because the purported technical effect does not in fact…

The king is dead! Long live the king! An expression traditionally uttered at the death of a monarch to acclaim a new king on the death of his predecessor. Could it be applied to our traditional French saisie-contrefaçon at the advent of saisie-contrefaçon before the UPC? This question came to mind last week during a…

On 18 September 2024, the Honourable Justice Jackman, in his capacity as a Deputy President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), granted Sandoz a licence pursuant to section 223(9) of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) (Act).  In doing so, his Honour set aside an earlier, 2019 decision, in which the Commissioner of Patents (Commissioner) had also…

Despite the availability of therapeutic options that extend life expectancy, cancer remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. A key reason for this persistently high mortality rate is the limited effectiveness of conventional treatments in overcoming acquired tumor resistance. Therefore, there is a long felt need for new treatment solutions that continues to…

NO INFRINGEMENT OF RIVAROXABAN DOSAGE FREQUENCY PATENT – DANISH COURT REJECTS BAYER’S APPLICATION FOR PRELIMINARY IN-JUNCTION1. SummaryOn 9 October 2024, the Maritime and Commercial Court rendered its decision not to grant Bayer’s applications for interim measures against four generics — Sandoz, Glenmark, and Stada — based on EP 1 845 961 (“EP 961”).Teva was originally…

Rapporteur’s Opinion proposes substitute text and recommends approval In February 2024, a Brazilian congress member, Antônio Luiz Rodrigues Mano Júnior (known as Júnior Mano), introduced a bill to amend the national IP Statute (Law #9,279/96) and regulate the ownership of inventions generated by artificial intelligence systems. Bill #303/2024, if approved, would allow patenting autonomously generated…

Brazil is an increasingly relevant venue for litigation involving standard essential patents (SEPs). As a top-5 market in the world for consumer electronics and the most performing economy in Latin America, Brazil is indeed an important country for players in tech. Think of X (formerly “Twitter”), which has recently been banned in Brazil for failing…

The recently released judgment in J1/24 (relating to EP 3660979B1), from the Legal Board of Appeal at the European Patent Office (EPO) is a divisive judgment, which could potentially have far-reaching implications. Existing legislation ignored/overturned by J1/24 The European Patent Convention is clear that a divisional application must be filed from a pending parent application,…

In an important decision rendered on 24 April 2024, the Commercial Chamber of the Cour de cassation (i.e., French Supreme Court) ruled that the assignment of a patent is not enforceable against third parties if it is not registered, but that the regularization of this situation during the infringement proceedings allows covering all acts of…

As one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, Brazil has long been a natural research powerhouse. In fields such as pharmaceuticals, it is common to study the genome of plants, animals and microorganisms, applying this knowledge to create new products and processes that may be eligible for patent protection. As an example, in…