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Now that we are less than one month away from implementation of the First-Inventor-To-File provisions of the America Invents Act (AIA), stakeholders are considering whether to file new patent applications now, to secure examination under the current First-To-Invent patent system, or wait until March 16, 2013, so that the applications will be governed by the…
In a recent decision (BGH X ZR 7/12) the Bundesgerichtshof had to decide whether the Appeal Court violated its general obligation to elucidate the facts relevant for the decision by not ordering the inspection of a machine by an expert. The underlying case concerned a claim for patent infringement by use of a patented process….
Faithfully implementing Article 9 §4 of Directive No. 2004/48/EC, Arti-cle L. 615–3 of the French Intellectual Property Code (hereinafter referred to as “IPC”) authorizes French courts to grant an interim injunction order after an inter partes proceedings (before the Judge ruling in preliminary proceedings) but also after an ex parte proceedings. As required by the EC Directive, the ex parte…
FRAND licensing terms (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) and their impact upon electronics and telecommunications patent litigation is fast becoming a hot topic amongst the patent blogs. One case that has so far slipped under the radar of many commentators is the forthcoming Nokia/HTC/IPCom FRAND trial before the High Court of England and Wales. The trial,…
On 5 December 2012, the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court handed down an interesting judgment confirming that the non-discrimination principle enshrined in articles 27.1 and 70 of TRIPS trumps any remaining effects of the Reservation filed by the Kingdom of Spain when it adhered to the European Patent Convention (“EPC”) on 10 July 1986….
by Bernward Zollner In a case called “Produktionsrückstandsentsorgung” the German Bundesgerichtshof has discussed a case in which the claim of the litigious patent had been amended and narrowed with respect to the scope of protection after the judgment of the appeal court had been handed down. The appeal court therefore, could not have discussed the…
By order of 16 October 2012 in Sperotto v. Bolpagni , the Court of Turin stated, in line with a few other of its recent decisions, that patent infringement ordinary proceedings (even if including a cross-claim of revocation) must be stayed until the conclusion of EPO opposition proceedings pending on the allegedly infringed patent, in application…
The Polish government’s enthusiasm for the EU patent package has seriously dwindled of late. It appears to have taken several steps back with respect to the implementation of a unified patent protection regime across Europe as a result of the heavy criticism of the EU patent reform at home. In particular, the UPC is still…
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…
Hearings in the UK’s highest Court concerning patents are rare. In fact, since the Supreme Court was established in place of the House of Lords in October 2009, there has only been one substantive decision namely the Eli Lilly v Human Genome Sciences case. Last week the Supreme Court heard its second patents case, Schütz…
