The UK has ratified the Unified Patent Court Agreement. The Minister for Intellectual Property, Sam Gyimah MP, confirmed this today. As was announced in a government press release: ‘Ratification brings the international court one step closer to reality. The Agreement on the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is an international treaty. The international court will have jurisdiction over patent…
Yesterday, 25 April 2018, AG Wathelet has handed down his opinion in the Teva v Gilead reference (Case C-121/17) suggesting that the question should be answered as follows: “The fact that a substance or combination of substances falls within the scope of protection of the basic patent is a necessary, but not sufficient, requirement for…
I know that this is a patent blog. But something – I don’t know what, maybe it’s the upcoming meeting of the EPO’s Administrative Council – drives me to refer very briefly to a new CJEU ruling. Here is what the Court of Justice had to say about judicial independence in Case C-64/16. Emphases in…
While the patent world is waiting with anxiety what the German Federal Constitutional Court will do with the challenge of the legal basis of the Unified Patent Court Agreement, the man behind this complaint, Düsseldorf patent attorney Dr. Ingve Björn Stjerna has attacked the economic foundation of the UP system in a recent article on…
A crucial period is ahead for the Unitary Patent (UP) system. In the UK, all legislative steps required to ratify the UPC Agreement have been completed and formal ratification could take place around Easter, if the government gives the go-ahead in the midst of the Brexit turmoil. In Germany, a decision is expected this year…
The draft Brexit Withdrawal Agreement between the EU and the UK, which was published by the European Commission on 28 February 2018, provides for continued protection in the UK of registered or granted IP rights. According to article 50 (1) of the draft agreement, the holder of a EU trade mark, design or plant variety right,…
The German constitutional complaint against ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement is on the list of cases to be decided by the Bundesverfassungsgericht, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany this year. A preview of the cases was published today here (in German). The rapporteur for the case (Az. 2 BvR 739/17) is Professor Dr….
Here at the Kluwer Patent Blog we are thrilled to have had the opportunity to interview Benjamin May on collecting evidence in patent cases and have him address issues on the power of seize and search orders, the harmonisation efforts of Directive 2004/48/EC and the future of seizures, prior to his presentation at C5’s Pharma…
Despite the uncertainty about what will happen in Germany with the Unified Patent Court Agreement, the UK is heading for ratification of the UPCA and preparations for the court are going on. In the UK, the legislative steps have been completed and it is expected the UK will complete all formalities by depositing its instrument…
Part II (- sorry, this will be a bit longer, but a lot has accumulated recently…) How does the EPO in 2018 fare with regard to the criterion “expert, well supported and motivated staff”? To what extent is it already reality, and to what “vision” in the sense of fancy? In my personal view, it…
