If everything goes according to the most recent plan, the Unified Patent Court will finally open its doors on 1 June 2023, with the sunrise period starting the first of March. The UK, initially one of the driving forces behind the Unitary Patent system, will not join the opening party, as it withdrew its membership…

On July 20, 2022, the Japan Intellectual Property High Court (“IP High Court”) rendered the first-ever decision allowing enforcement of Japanese patent rights against infringing acts partially committed outside of Japan (Case No. 2018 (Ne) 10077). The plaintiff Dwango Co., Ltd. sued co-defendants FC2, Inc. (U.S. company) and Homepage System, Inc. (Japanese company), alleging that…

The healthcare sector in Brazil is one of the most important in the world in view of the size of the population (+220 million people) and the availability of a universal public healthcare system. The action of antibodies as therapeutic agents may involve processes of neutralization, opsonization and activation of immune complement system, transforming them…

Opt out your existing patents from the jurisdiction of the Unified Patent Court. That is the advice European patent attorney Martin Luten repeatedly gave to the audience of a webinar last month of his firm Arnold & Siedsma. In the webinar, Luten discussed the basics of the Unitary Patent (UP) and the Unified Patent Court…

This decision dealt with the practically important question of whether the claim can still be waived in the proceedings on the complaint against denial of leave to appeal, i.e. after the conclusion of the appeal proceedings. This becomes particularly relevant if the patent in suit is held invalid and the opposing party does not agree…

Starting tomorrow morning, external users can test the sunrise functionalities of the Unified Patent Court’s case management system for a three week period, until 16 December 2022. According to an announcement on the UPC’s website, ‘all tests will be carried out in the CMS test environment. This environment is a copy of the CMS production…

Johannes Karcher, acting chairman of the Administrative Committee of the Unified Patent Court, is optimistic the court will open its doors in April 2023 as planned, despite the questions which have been raised with the authentication of users within the Case Management System. He expects a solution ‘rather soon’ for the relocation of UPC cases…

Video conferences will become the default format of oral opposition proceedings in at the European Patent Office as of 2023. Only under certain circumstances, and when the opposition division permits it, will oral proceedings in opposition be conducted in person. A decision to that effect was announced yesterday, a week after the publication of the final…