European Union

European Union

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

For some years the European Commission has been drafting a new “Regulation Concerning Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights” replacing present Regulation EC/1383/2003. It now appears that legislative procedure is almost complete. The Internal Market Committee of the European Parliament and the Permanent Representatives Committee of the Council have recently adopted a compromise text. After…

European Union, Procedure, United Kingdom

(Bristows)/

As has been well publicised, the end of 2012 was a time of considerable progress in the long history of the Unitary patent and Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) dossier, culminating in adoption of the Unitary Patent Regulation 1257/2012 and its accompanying Language Regulation 1260/2012. But what next? Built into the Unitary Patent Regulation is a…

Biologics, European Union, Exceptions to patentability, Germany

(Rospatt Osten Pross)/

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…

European Union

(Hoffmann Eitle)/ /5 Comments

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…

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, European Union, Procedure

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

On 27 September 2012, a new consolidated version of the Draft Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (Document 14268/12) was (finally) published. The consolidated text includes some of the amendments agreed upon on 5 December 2011 as well as on the 29/30 June 2012 EU Council summit, and also presents further amendments and quite a…

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, Denmark, European Union, Procedure

(Bugge Valentin)/ /1 Comment

In the wake of the UPC Agreement having been entered into under the Danish presidency, there was widespread euphoria about the many, potentially positive, aspects of Danish SME litigants being able to save substantial costs under the envisaged UPC regime. The Danish press abounded in positive reviews put forward by politicians and industry representatives alike,…

Enforcement, European Union

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

On 3 July 2012, the European Parliament adopted the Commission’s proposal for a new Regulation on “Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property” (COM(2011)0285) at first reading. The document P7_TA(2012)0272, which proposes many amendments, is the provisional position of the EP subject to further negotiations. Between October and November 2012, representatives of the Commission, the Council and…

European Union, France, Injunction, Procedure, SPC

(Véron & Associés)/

On 8 June 2012, the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris rendered an interesting decision concerning Losartan. It particularly deals with two questions: the conditions of the SPC’s paediatric extension (Regulation (EC) No. 1901/2006) and the preliminary injunction as organized by Article L. 615-3 (implementing Article 9 of Directive (EC) No. 2004/48) of the French Intellectual Property Code. The US company E.I….

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, (Indirect) infringement, Case Law, European Union, Procedure

(Brinkhof)/

The Court of Justice ruled that claims against different companies located in different Member States marketing the same product regarding infringement of a a European patent in one jurisdiction were so closely connected that they may be decided jointly to prevent irreconcilable judgments in the sense of Art. 6(1) EC 44/2001. In the present circumstances,…