In two separate judgments, the Full Court has provided much needed clarity on how to identify the pharmaceutical products that can support a valid patent term extension in Australia, as Natalie Shoolman, Kent Teague and Rose Jenkins explain in this article. Takeaways: Patent term extensions must be based on the “earliest first regulatory approval date”…

In a complex case concerning blockbuster cinacalcet, Section 15 of the Barcelona Court of Appeals makes findings on the non-obviousness of inventions consisting of the provision of an unexpected technical effect. In these cases, the technical problem can be reformulated as providing such effect, provided that it is related to the problem initially disclosed in…

SPCs are often valuable and therefore important to their proprietors.  Indeed, such is the potential value of an additional period of exclusivity, that in the last decade or so, we have seen SPCs challenged where only a few weeks or even a few days of the SPC term remain.   It is therefore hardly surprising, especially…

Meade J reaffirms the UK Courts’ approach to disclosure of confidential information How far should the Court go to protect a party’s confidential information during disclosure? In a recent decision ([2022] EWHC 490 (Pat)) in two related patent infringement actions between Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (“SGRE”) and General Electric (“GE”), Meade J confirmed that there…

The Bulgarian Supreme Court of Cassation (SCC) confirmed a second instance court judgment considering, inter alia, the effect of a later exclusive patent license contract having the same subject matter as an earlier one and the effect of (non-)registration of an exclusive patent license contract and its termination with the Bulgarian Patent Office (BPO). Case…

The article “One small step for “artificial intelligence”, and a giant leap for the Australian patent system? The Federal Court decision in Thaler v Commissioner of Patents” analyses the reasoning of Beach J in the Thaler decision at first instance, noting that this decision is the first judicial consideration in Australia relating to the impact…

Back in 2021 the Competition Enhancement Office and the Intellectual Property Policy Office at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) established the “Study Group on Licensing Environment of Standard Essential Patents”. Various experts and corporate actors joined this group and reviewed the international environment surrounding SEP licensing negotiations and further discussed the…