Two research scientists, involved with the synthesis of a compound which formed the basis of a patented heart imaging agent, brought what is the first ever successful action under Section 40 of the Patents Act 1977, arguing that the patents are of outstanding benefit to their employer, and as such, they are entitled to a…
Lack of novelty by re-working prior art requires that the re-works must inevitably lead to results falling within the claim of the patent at issue. If choices have to be made for the re-working process, the result is not inevitable.A possible breach of Article 84 EPC (clarity) does not lead to nullity. The Court states…
Mr Yanko Tsv. A. filed an application with the Bulgarian Patent Office (BPO) for the grant of a patent for an ‘Active solar heating system’. The BPO dismissed the application as the Expert Department of ‘Mechanical Engineering, Construction, Electronics and Electronical Engineering’ determined that the invention applied for was not industrially applicable and therefore not…
The Board reversed a refusal of the patent application for lack of technical contribution. The underlying decision had expressed the view that the idea of making chance encounters depend on time was a game rule, which is itself excluded from patentability and had been implemented in straightforward manner. In its classical sense game rules form…
In this judgment the Court of Appeal considers the appellant’s claim for invalidation of the patent inadmissible as he did not call the co-proprietor of the patent to join the proceedings. While considered valid on substantive grounds, the claim in question needs to be rephrased to fulfill the industrial applicability. As nullity of the patent…
In this case the Court confirmed beyond any doubt that the Polish Patent Office is not an administrative body that shall automatically approve patents granted by the European Patent Office. However, the Patent Office may not base its decision solely on its own convictions and the views expressed in the judgment of a British Court…
The degree of effectiveness of the invention (here: the removal of prion proteins) is an issue related to the technical problem solved by the invention. This is to be considered when assessing inventive step, and is thus not relevant for sufficiency of disclosure. As the invention is sufficiently disclosed in the specification, the fact that…
The Federal Court of Justice clarified the interdependencies of its case law concerning computer implemented inventions. An application has technical character if a non technical feature is inserted in a technical process. The comprehensive inspection of the object of the application does not allow discretionary weighing of technical and nontechnical parts. Due to the exemption…
This case provides a rather complete example of how to calculate damages in a patent infringement action in France. When the patent owner directly works out his patent in France, damages are based on lost profits and completed by additional royalties if the lost profits are below the amount of total infringing sales. When the…
