Extent of Protection

The extent or scope of the protection conferred by a European patent or a European patent application shall – cf. Article 69 European Patent Convention – be determined by the claims. Nevertheless, the description and drawings shall be used to interpret the claims.

(Indirect) infringement, Belgium, Case Law, Damages, Extent of Protection, Mechanical Engineering, Procedure

(Cappuyns Intellectual Property Law )/

The Court of Appeal of Liège confirmed the President of the Commercial Court’s finding that the appellant had committed patent infringement, and ordered the reimbursement of costs of the saisie-contrefaçon (seizure of evidence), which were not considered damages but as procedural costs. Click here for the full text of this case. A summary of this case…

Amendments, Chemical Engineering, EPC, Extent of Protection

(Hoffmann Eitle)/ /1 Comment

Article 123(3) EPC stipulates that a European patent may not be amended in such a way as to extend the protection it confers. A special case of extension of the protective scope may occur in claims which define both the type of and the amount of a specific component. An issue addressed in a series…

Case Law, Extent of Protection, Inventive step, Ireland, Novelty, Procedure

(Mccann Fitzgerald)/

Applying a purposive construction of the claims the Court found no infringement similar to the conclusion in prior parallel proceedings between the parties in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom. The issue of added matter was left to be addressed in a separate judgment. Click here for the full text of this case. A summary…

Case Law, Extent of Protection, Poland, Scope of protection

(Allen & Overy)/

The Polish Supreme Administrative Court invalidated a decision of the Polish Patent Office in which it refused to grant a patent for an invention related to digital electronics. The court held that the patentability requirements under Polish patent law, including the technical character of an invention, correspond to the patentability requirements specified in the European…

Biologics, Case Law, Equivalents, Extent of Protection, Netherlands

(Brinkhof)/

The Dutch Supreme Court held that Art. 69 EPC in conjunction with art. 1 Protocol for the application of Art. 69 EPC provides a guideline for the determination of the scope of protection. Other “viewpoints” are the essence of the invention and the inventive idea behind the wording of the claims as opposed to the…

Enforcement, Extent of Protection, United States of America

(Foley&Lardner LLP)/ /1 Comment

Last month both the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued important decisions relating to method of use patents in the Hatch-Waxman Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) patent litigation framework. These cases underscore unique aspects of method of use patents in the ANDA context.

Austria, Case Law, Enforcement, Entitlement, Extent of Protection, Mechanical Engineering, Procedure, Scope of protection

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The right to an unpatented invention does not entitle to its exclusive use; it ceases to exist if the invention is made public without patent protection. The right to an unpatented invention encompasses no more than (i) the right to file a patent application and (ii) the right to claim the patent, in case a…

Biologics, Case Law, Extent of Protection, Inventive step, Norway, Novelty, Validity

(Wikborg Rein)/

The Court of Appeal dismissed Pharmaq’s claim that Intervet’s patent claiming deposited virus strains and closely related strains sharing genotypic and phenotypic characteristics was invalid and that its vaccine did not infringe. The court held that the patent only covered the virus in isolated form and that the isolation of the virus strain from nature…

Case Law, Equivalents, Extent of Protection, SPC, Switzerland

(Homburger AV)/

An SPC can only be granted if the product falls within the scope of protection of the basic patent. If the basic patent claims a combination of two known components (i.e.  a monoclonal antibody with a neoplastic agent), that combination is the patent’s contribution to the art. An individual component  is not equivalent to the…

(Indirect) infringement, Countries, European Union, Extent of Protection, SPC

(Clifford Chance)/

The recent judgment from the ECJ of 24 November 2011 in case C-322/10 (“Medeva”) has surprised the patent community, since the ECJ appears to have changed the view expressed in its judgment of 16 September of 1999 in case C-392/97 (“Farmitalia”), where the Court declared that it was not for the ECJ, but for national…