United Kingdom

(Cross-border) jurisdiction, European Union, FRAND, Germany, Patents, SEP, Unitary Patent, United Kingdom, UPC

(Hoffmann Eitle)/ /1 Comment

Following up on Thorsten’s blog post yesterday, I report on the second day of the Oxviews 9th Intellectual Property and Competition Forum, which took place in the Justizpalast in Munich on 19 June. This impressive building deserves the name Palast (in English “Palace”), and was a fitting venue for this meeting of thought leaders in…

(Indirect) infringement, FRAND, Infringement, Injunction, Procedure, SEP, United Kingdom

(Bristows)/

On the 23 May 2024, the English Patents Court dismissed an application by Lenovo for an interim injunction to prevent Ericsson infringing one of Lenovo’s patents pending the outcome of the UK proceedings ([2024] EWHC 1267 (Ch)). In particular, the Court found that the application failed on the basis that damages are an adequate remedy…

Equivalents, Infringement, Inventive step, Litigation, Novelty, Patents, Pharma, United Kingdom, Validity

(Bristows)/ /2 Comments

Advanced Cell Diagnostics v Molecular Instruments [2024] EWHC 898 (Pat) On 23 April 2024, Mr Justice Meade handed down his judgment in the dispute between Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) and Molecular Instruments (MI). ACD is the proprietor of two European patents which relate to in situ detection of nucleic acids in single cells.  EP (UK)…

Amendments, Patents, Procedure, United Kingdom

, (Bristows)/

On 23 April 2024, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the appeal arising from the January 2023 decision of Meade J in AIM v Supponor [2023] EWHC 164 (Pat). AIM is the proprietor of EP (UK) 3 295 663, which relates to technology that allows TV broadcasters of live events to superimpose…

Inventive step, Patents, Procedure, United Kingdom, Validity

, (Bristows)/ /1 Comment

Introduction It is common for parties to English patent litigation to settle their differences after the first instance judgment on the merits from the Court.  This is for several reasons including the thoroughness of the Patents Court Judges, the Court of Appeal’s approach to issues such as obviousness (where only an error of principle will…

Entitlement, evidence, Patents, United Kingdom

(Bristows)/

A short but nevertheless interesting judgment was handed down last week on the different roles that technical experts on the one hand and scientific advisers on the other have to play in proceedings in the English Patents Court.   The decision of Mellor J followed a case management conference in an entitlement dispute between Dr Vanessa…

Brexit, CJEU, SPC, United Kingdom

(Bristows)/

It took longer to arrive than expected but here it is.   The UK Courts have been given an opportunity to depart from the jurisprudence of the CJEU in their interpretation of the SPC Regulation. The opportunity has arisen in the following way.   In December 2023 the English High Court dismissed an appeal by Merck against…

Brexit, Case Law, Litigation, Pharma, SPC, United Kingdom, Validity

(Bristows)/

Question: I applied for my SPC in reliance on the law as set out in Neurim[1], following Santen[2] can I still obtain my SPC? Answer: No, according to the English High Court[3]. In 2018, i.e. before the Santen decision from the CJEU, Merck applied to the UK IPO for an SPC for its medicinal product…

Case Law, Infringement, Patents, United Kingdom

(Bristows)/

On 19 December 2023, the Court of Appeal handed down its decision in The NOCO Company v Shenzhen Carku Technology Co., Ltd  [2023] EWCA Civ 1502. The issue on appeal was whether communications between The NOCO Company (“NOCO”) and Amazon amounted to a “threat of infringement proceedings” for the purpose of s. 70 Patents Act…

AI, Case Law, Patents, Technology, United Kingdom

(Bristows)/ /1 Comment

On 20 December 2023, the UK Supreme Court handed down its highly anticipated judgment in the case of Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks [2023] UKSC 49, unanimously ruling that only a natural person can be named as an inventor on a patent application.  In doing so, the Supreme Court upheld the decisions…