by Steven Willis In a judgment handed down at the end of last week, Arnold J has indicated his intention to make a reference to the CJEU concerning the interpretation of Article 3(d) of the SPC Regulation i.e. the requirement for the marketing authorisation (“MA”) on which an SPC application is based to be the…

Germany has resumed preparations for the ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement. A draft bill for the implementation of the UPCA was published on 9 December 2016 by Justice Minister Heiko Maas. Together with the UK, Germany is one of the two countries that still have to ratify the UPCA before the Unitary Patent system…

by Steven Willis Yesterday, the Patents Court handed down yet another decision in the Sisyphean pregablin litigation, this time refusing Sandoz’ application to vary the Order for Injunction which resulted from Arnold J’s October 2015 decision (“Sandoz I”) to injunct Sandoz following its launch of a full label pregabalin product (“Pregabalin Sandoz”). As is typically…

The UK signed the Protocol on Privileges and Immunities of the Unified Patent Court on 14 December 2016 in Brussels. It is an important step in the process that should lead to UK ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement. The UK still needs to pass national legislation, a so-called statutory instrument (SI), to enact…

by Chloe Dickson On 30 November 2016 the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in the latest chapter of the Hospira v Genentech epic surrounding Genentech’s blockbuster drug trastuzumab (Herceptin®) (Hospira v Genentech [2016] EWCA Civ 1185). This instalment concerned a patent for use of the antibody trastuzumab in combination with a traditional chemotherapeutic agent,…

Depending on the outcome of the UK Government’s appeal to the Supreme Court on the issue of whether Parliament has to be consulted about the decision to give notice under Article 50 to leave the EU, the procedure which must lead to ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement could be the first case since…

There is a lot of enthusiasm among German patent judges, in particular but not only the younger ones, for the Unitary Patent system and the Unified Patent Court, according to Dr. Klaus Grabinski, Judge of the Federal Court of Justice of Karlsruhe in Germany. In an interview with Kluwer IP Law he welcomed the news…

What will happen if the United Kingdom, after ratifying the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) and some years of membership of the Unified Patent (UP) system, leaves the European Union? Can it continue to be a member of the system? If it doesn’t, what will happen to Unitary Patents that up to the Brexit were…

The Preparatory Committee of the Unified Patent Court is delighted with the UK’s decision to ratify the UPC Agreement and will publish a revised roadmap for the start of the Unitary Patent system as soon as possible. Chairman Alexander Ramsay is a happy man, he told Kluwer IP Law. Monday’s announcement of Minister of State…

(UPDATED) Despite the Brexit vote and in a move which ends months of uncertainty about the future of the Unitary Patent system, the UK has announced it intends to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement. UK Minister of State for Intellectual Property, Baroness Neville Rolfe, made a statement on behalf of the UK government during…