The industry has serious concerns about the deteriorating patent quality at the European Patent Office. The issue was discussed earlier this month between the EPO and the Industry Patent Quality Charter, an group representing major international corporations, law firms and patent offices. After their meeting, Beat Weibel, chief IP counsel, group senior vice-president at Siemens…
The EPO has opened its public user consultation on the latest version of the EPC and PCT-EPO Guidelines, which will come into force on 1 March 2023. Users are invited to submit their comments in any of the EPO’s three official languages via an online form by 4 April 2023. The Guidelines for Examination in…
The new and noteworthy decision T 670/20 by Technical Board of Appeal 3.3.07 provides more legal certainty for patentees of formulation patents. The proprietors of pharmaceutical formulation and pharmaceutical use patents do often not have it easy, if and when – as is often the case – they have conducted clinical trials before the priority…
Damocles, so tells us an ancient legend (reported here) was a favorite of President Dionysios II. of Syrakus in Sicily, who lived during the first half of the 4th century BC. His story was succinctly told by none other than Marcus Tullius Cicero in his tusculanae disputationes 5, 61–62. Hoping that Cicero will forgive me,…
An outburst of anger of a president and his re-election, social tensions, industrial actions: for anyone familiar with the world of patents it will be clear that all this refers to the European Patent Office, which drew a lot of attention on the Kluwer Patent Blog last year, even more than the biggest change in…
Video conferences will become the default format of oral opposition proceedings in at the European Patent Office as of 2023. Only under certain circumstances, and when the opposition division permits it, will oral proceedings in opposition be conducted in person. A decision to that effect was announced yesterday, a week after the publication of the final…
As per the EPC definition, a substance or composition that is already known to have been used in a “first medical use” may still be patentable for any second or further use, provided that said use is novel and inventive. Even though the first medical use was the subject of patent protection within the EPC…
The member states of the European Patent Organisation have re-appointed EPO president António Campinos for a second five-year term in office, commencing 1 July 2023. The decision was made at a meeting of the EPO’s Administrative Council held in Munich. As far as is clear, there was no extensive discussion about the reappointment, despite a…
Staff members of the European Patent Office will demonstrate in front of the Isar building in Munich during the meeting of the Administrative Council on 29 June 2022, where re-election of president António Campinos will be discussed. The demonstration has been organised by trade union Suepo. According to an announcement distributed among Suepo members, Campinos was…
The trade union SUEPO has claimed the strike it called for during the meeting of the Administrative Council on 22 March 2022 was a ‘striking success’. According to a statement it sent to its members two days after the strike, 1.514 employees representing 24,45% of all staff participated in the strike, including 28,63% of staff…
