A patent is a document, issued, upon application, by a government office (or a regional office acting for several countries), which describes an invention and creates a legal situation in which the patented invention can normally only be exploited (manufactured, used, sold, imported) with the authorization of the holder of the patent. ‘Invention’ means a solution to a specific problem in the field of technology. An invention may relate to a product or a process. The protection conferred by the patent is limited in time, generally 20 years. In a number of countries, inventions are also protectable through registration of a ‘utility model’ or ‘short-term patent’.
This article follows the jurisdictional analysis initiated in Legal Inception: Harmonizing the UPC and National Courts through EU Law. That piece focused on procedural structure. This one turns to the interpretive culture required to make that structure coherent. The European patent system is no longer defined by its fragmentation—it is now defined by how that…
G 1/24 has now been issued, and concludes “The description and any drawings are always referred to when interpreting the claims, and not just in the case of unclarity or ambiguity.” With this simple proclamation, the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) provides clear guidance on the fundamental issue of claim interpretation which has caused much…
Diving into the labyrinth of intertwined dreams in Christopher Nolan’s Inception—where each dream level operates under its own rules while influencing the others—sharply illuminates the intricate structure of the European patent litigation system. Within this evolving landscape, patent holders are granted procedural freedom: during the transitional phase of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), they may…
This year, at the Annual Fordham IP Law & Policy Conference, we heard Lord Justice Birss reflect on how we are living through a transformative era in intellectual property (IP) law. In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), some voices have gone so far as to call for the abolition of IP rights altogether. Yet,…
Defining antibodies by functional features is not always straightforward at the EPO. T326/22 is a nice example of how this can be achieved. To briefly recap the standard EPO approach, an antibody may generally be claimed by reference to its epitope, i.e. the structurally defined part of the antigen that it specifically binds to…
Like Corto Maltese charting forgotten seas, the UK now sails through uncertain waters in the shifting landscape of European patent litigation. Brexit did not bring about a complete rupture but rather a complex reconfiguration of balances and strategies. Caught between aspirations for strengthened judicial sovereignty and a European reality structured without it, the UK is…
This year, at the Annual Fordham IP Law & Policy Conference, we heard Lord Justice Birss reflect on how we are living through a transformative era in intellectual property (IP) law. In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), some voices have gone so far as to call for the abolition of IP rights altogether. Yet,…
On May 27, 2025, the Intellectual Property High Court of Japan ruled in favor of Toray Industries, Inc. in a landmark patent infringement lawsuit (Case No. 2021 (Ne) 10037) concerning the extended patent rights for the antipruritic agent “Remitch®” (nalfurafine). The court ordered two generic companies, Sawai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Fuso Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.,…
Yesterday, I shared some early figures from the UPC Court of Appeal, offering a glimpse into how the Court operates two years after its launch. But those reflections lingered long after I closed my laptop. They kept me up — long enough to return to a thornier, more theoretical question that has remained unresolved since…
Introduction: A Concert Interrupted Imagine a Rammstein concert—tight rhythms, explosive precision, and overwhelming power. That’s what many expected from the German divisions of the UPC: efficiency, control, and dominance. But two years into the life of the Court of Appeal, that expectation has begun to unravel. What we see instead is a more nuanced performance—less…
