Since the UK announced it wants to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement despite the Brexit vote (last week the new IP minister of the UK, Jo Johnson, repeated the announcement of his predecessor Baroness Neville-Rolfe), preparations for the system have restarted in full, despite the fact that a British membership brings about uncertainty. Prof….
Christmas is the time of good wishes. Here is my personal wishlist. 1. Peace! 2. That we all consent that there is human dignity and that it is inviolable and independent of race, colour, origin, gender and language. And that we act accordingly and acknowledge inviolable and inalienable human rights as the basis of every…
The new Visser is out The 24th edition of the book The Annotated European Patent Convention by Derk Visser has been published on 6 December 2016. The book is updated till 15 November 2016. A few important amendments in the book are: The changes in the latest edition of the Guidelines for Examination in the EPO, valid…
The United Kingdom can remain a member state of the Unitary Patent (UP) system after Brexit and it will not have to accept the supremacy of EU law by separate agreement, according to Prof Dr Ansgar Ohly of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich. He explained this in a recent lecture at the European Patent Judges‘ Forum…
Will the UK participate in the Unitary Patent system despite the Brexit vote of 23 Juni 2016? It has been the most important question concerning the system for over five months, but probably not much longer. Various sources expect the UK to make an announcement about its plans with the UP and UPC during the…
The parliament in the Netherlands will hold a debate on the ‘deteriorating social situation’ at the European Patent Office. The recent dismissal of a SUEPO trade union leader in The Hague was one of the issues triggering a request for the debate. MP Sharon Gesthuizen of the socialist SP received support for her request from…
1. History One of the most precious achievements that Europe inherited from England is the so-called Rule of Law, dating back from the days of James I who ruled the union of the Scottish and English crowns from 1603 until his death in 1625. The key parts of this model is that laws are made…
How to save the Unitary Patent project? As soon as the outcome of the UK referendum on a Brexit was known, discussions started behind the scenes about ways to adapt the Unitary Patent system so the UK can stay in. According to Wouter Pors of Bird & Bird, a new scenario has come up to…
No, this is not another blog about the Brexit, even though the current figures of the EU referendum polls in the UK make this author wonder how it comes that cooperation and European harmonization is so uncontroversial and successful in the field of intellectual property, yet apparently so controversial and difficult in other fields. Perhaps…
European patent attorneys should make a joint effort and gather data to assess the impact of procedural issues on opposition procedures at the European Patent Office and, in the future, on decisions of the Unified Patent Court. Michael Wallinger, partner of law firm WRST, proposed this at the annual meeting of the European Patent Litigators…
