The pan-generational failure to agree a system enabling unitary patent protection among the countries of the EPC and/or EU is well known among innovators, patent attorneys and lawyers alike. Following renewed efforts in recent years, particularly under the presidencies of Sweden and Belgium, substantial stumbling blocks remain. One unfortunate development last summer was the challenge…
Do we need a Community Patent? Do we need a European Patent Litigation System? Or does the current fragmented system have a hidden wisdom behind it? Judge for yourself!
In Grimme Landmaschinenfabrik GmbH v Scott [2010] EWCA Civ 1110 the English Court of Appeal stated clearly its support for judicial collaboration facilitating de facto harmonisation of patent law in Europe. The Court then interpreted the UK provisions on indirect/contributory infringement consistently with approaches taken in The Netherlands and Germany. The case in question concerned…
It is trite that in most jurisdictions, the grant of a patent is only a negative right, in that it does not give the patentee the right to work the invention, merely to prevent others from doing so. For example, the invention claimed may fall within the scope of a prior ‘master’ patent, of which…
The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) has been asked to consider whether the draft agreement for the proposed European Patent Litigation System is compatible with the European Union treaties. On 2 July 2010, Advocate General Kokott provided an opinion (which has only recently been made publicly available) advising the CJEU to find…
The General Court upheld, for the most part, the decision of the European Commission in AstraZeneca. The Court held that AstraZeneca infringed Article 82 EC (prohibition of abuse of a dominant market position) in so far as AstraZeneca requested the registration of Losec capsules market authorisations in Norway and Denmark. The Court further held that…
The European Court of Justice held that Article 9 of the Biotech Directive (98/44/EC) does not confer patent protection to genetic information that does not (anymore) perform its function for which it is patented (in the case at hand the DNA present in soy meal). In addition, the Court held that Article 9 Directive provides…
In May 2010, in HTC Corporation v Yozmot 33 Ltd [2010] EWHC 1057 (Pat), the English High Court (Arnold J.) confirmed that it is in principle legitimate for a party to seek a judgment of the English Court on the validity of a UK designation of a European patent in the hope that the judgment…
The grant of supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) has been the subject of numerous recent cases in Europe. In the UK, the latest development in Neurim Pharmaceuticals (1991) Limited v. Comptroller-General of Patents [2010] EWHC 976 (Pat) concerned the issue of whether a previously authorised product can be the subject of an SPC for a different…
There have been some interesting developments lately on the international IP piracy front relating to the so-called manufacturing fiction and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). These will also have an impact on patent cases. I will summarize the main points.
