The European Parliament supports the introduction of a full ban on patents for all plants produced by certain New Genomic Techniques (NGT), plant material, parts thereof, genetic information and process features they contain. The ban, part of a proposal to introduce two different categories of NGT plants, got support in a vote today. The provision…
The SPC reform which is currently undergoing the legislative procedure in the European Union has taken a further decisive step forward, as the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI Committee) has approved an amended version of the draft text of the four new EU regulations on SPCs for medicinal and plant protection products as…
The potential of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) in driving the ecological transition poses a compelling question. Could these patents be instrumental in fostering innovative technologies and ensuring interoperability of products that are key to the ecological transition? Indeed, within the framework of the European Green Deal, which aims for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050, the…
Ireland will hold a referendum on joining of the Unified Patent Court in June. This has been confirmed by the Irish government. In a post on LinkedIn, Neale Richmond, minister of state for business, employment and retail, announced: ‘Today, I confirmed to the Seanad that we will hold a Referendum this June to allow Ireland join…
The Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court has refused as inadmissible applications by law firms Mathys & Squire and Bristows to intervene in an appeal concerning public access to documents filed with the Court. As is explained in a press release of Mathys & Squire, in October ‘the UPC’s Nordic-Baltic regional division granted…
Since the start of operations 1 June 2023, the Unified Patent Court has received 160 cases. The court published an overview of the cases last week. The German local divisions are by far the most popular for infringement actions, and the language of 49 percent of the cases is German as well. The local division…
The EPO has recently announced it will ‘accelerate its processing of parallel opposition proceedings if it is informed by the Unified Patent Court or a national court or competent authority of a contracting state that an infringement or revocation action relating to a European patent or a Unitary Patent has been instituted before it.’ It…
To ensure you don’t miss out on interesting IP law developments reported on our other IP blogs, we will, on a regular basis, provide you with an overview of the most-read posts from each of our IP law blogs. Here are the most popular posts over the past few months. Top 3 Kluwer Copyright…
Mathys & Squire has brought a test case to try to improve the transparency of the operations of the Unified Patent Court. The law firm announced this on its website. Kluwer IP Law spoke to Nicholas Fox, partner at the IP firm and one of the people behind the initiative, and asked him what he…
The European Commission’s proposed Regulation to regulate standard essential patents (SEPs) in the EU has been a subject of much debate. Its explanatory memorandum sets forth its aim, including to ensure that “end users” (which includes small businesses and EU consumers) derive advantage from products that incorporate SEPs, at reasonable prices. Specifically, the proposed Regulation…
