Patents

A patent is a document, issued, upon application, by a government office (or a regional office acting for several countries), which describes an invention and creates a legal situation in which the patented invention can normally only be exploited (manufactured, used, sold, imported) with the authorization of the holder of the patent. ‘Invention’ means a solution to a specific problem in the field of technology. An invention may relate to a product or a process. The protection conferred by the patent is limited in time, generally 20 years. In a number of countries, inventions are also protectable through registration of a ‘utility model’ or ‘short-term patent’.

(Compulsory) license, (Cross-border) jurisdiction, (Indirect) infringement, FRAND, Infringement, Litigation, Patents, United Kingdom

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The Court of Appeal’s judgment in Optis Cellular Technology LLC v Apple Retail UK Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 552, handed down on 1 May 2025, is arguably the most significant UK FRAND decision since Unwired Planet v Huawei. It not only overturns the High Court’s FRAND determination but re-establishes the centrality of a comparables-based approach…

Patents

, (RNA Law)/

*Also co-authored by Tatiana Costa Vaccination plays a crucial role in the prevention of diseases caused by etiological agents. The origins of vaccines trace back to the late 18th century, when Edward Jenner demonstrated the effectiveness of using cowpox as an immunizing agent against smallpox. Vaccines have made an undeniable contribution to public health by…

Patents

(Clifford Chance)/

As patent aficionados are well aware, after the European Patent Office (“EPO”) published Decision G 0002/21, there was widespread expectation across Europe regarding whether or not the few national courts that require some sort of “plausibility” as a precondition for inventive step and/or sufficiency, would adapt their case law to the test introduced by G…

Patents

(Bugge Valentin)/

Article 9(4) of Directive 2004/48/EC obliges Member States to ensure that courts may issue provisional measures, including injunctions, without giving prior notice to the defendant in certain circumstances. This applies, in particular, when a delay is likely to result in irreparable harm to the rights holder, or when there may be a real risk that…

FRAND, Patents, SEP, UPC

(Dhenne Avocats)/

Much like Black Sabbath’s iconic track “Paranoid”—an anthem whose unsettling riffs once left skeptics bewildered—I find myself contemplating the equally discordant landscape of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). As someone known for my passion for both music and the intricacies of patent law, I see uncanny parallels between the dissonant chords of early heavy metal and…

(Indirect) infringement, Infringement, Injunction, Patents, TRIPS, TRIPs Agreement, UPC

, (Bristows)/

As is well known in the life sciences community in Europe, both the Commission and the Parliament have proposed reforms to the Medicines Directive which, if implemented, would serve to broaden the ambit of the Bolar exemption in the European Union.  It is understood that the European Council is now considering these reforms and it…

Case Law, EPC, Patents, Unitary Patent, UPC, Validity

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

G 1/24 addresses the extent to which the description can be used to interpret the claims. As previously discussed, it looks set to be one of the most consequential EPO decisions of the decade. The hearing in G 1/24 took place on 28 March, with the opponent advocating a new “diamond standard” that the “description…

(Compulsory) license, Belgium, Competition, Patents

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The refusal to grant a licence for intellectual property (IP) rights can sometimes conflict with competition law. This topic has already been explored in the case law of national courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union, most notably in the landmark case IMS Health (C418/01) of 29 April 2004. Such refusal has…

Inventive step, Legislation, Novelty, Patents

(ARS-Patent)/

The Russian Patent Office (Rospatent) has introduced new provisions relating to the assessment of patentability of “use” inventions. Background On September 27, 2024, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development issued Order No. 610, which came into effect on November 10, 2024 (hereinafter – the Order). The Order supplemented provisions on analyzing the patentability of inventions…