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’.

CJEU, Damages, Enforcement, Generics, Infringement, Injunction, Litigation, Patents, Pharma, Pharmaceutical patent, Sweden

(Gulliksson)/ /2 Comments

Introduction A key mechanism in patent litigation and specifically for generics is the concept of “launch at risk”. In short the concept means that a product is launched prior to the expiry of a patent despite the risk that the patent proprietor in such case could initiate infringement proceedings which often includes requests for a…

CJEU, Patents, SPC

(Clifford Chance)/

The long and winding road, as The Beatles would put it, that led to the judgments of the CJEU in Teva et altri v. Gilead Sciences (Case C-121/17) and Royalty Pharma v. Deutsches Patent und Markenamt (Case C-650/17), which renewed the Court’s case law on the meaning of “product“, started in the Medeva judgment (Case…

EPC, EPO, Patents

(Hoffmann Eitle)/ /12 Comments

The European Patent Office has invited its users and stakeholders to take position on the first draft of its „Towards a new normal“ orientation document. My experience with such public consultations in the recent past has not been particularly encouraging. It seems to me that outside views are simply collected and then moved into a…

(Compulsory) license, France, Patents

(Dhenne Avocats)/ /1 Comment

At a time when a bill aiming at granting a compulsory license in the interest of public health in case of extreme sanitary emergency has just been filed in the French Senate on April 8, 2021[1], the fake news that spoil the public debate about the compulsory licensing keep on proliferating. These fake news, which…

AI, Case Law, EPO Decision, Inventive step, ownership, Patents, Sufficiency of disclosure, Validity

(Dhenne Avocats)/

I can imagine what the reader might think when reading these few lines: another text on artificial intelligence (“AI”) and the Patent Law! (With perhaps: the author is obsessed with the Daft Punk split[1]). My mantra is: “Never disappoint the reader”! So both are true. That said, concerning the reception of AI by Patent Law…

Inventive step, Patents, Spain

(Clifford Chance)/ /9 Comments

On 28 December 2020, the Barcelona Court of Appeal (Section 15), one of Spain’s most experienced courts on patent matters, handed down a judgment which is interesting from a wide array of perspectives (how to assess inventive step, novelty, infringement, etc.). This blog will focus on the first aspect (i.e. inventive step) and, more specifically,…

EPO, EPO Decision, Legal costs, Patents, Revocation, United Kingdom

, (Bristows)/

Although the case relates to treatments for insomnia, we suspect that the latest episode in the ongoing saga between Neurim and Mylan might result in a few sleepless nights for patent litigators. Somewhat unconventionally, the latest instalment saw Marcus Smith J vary a costs order so as to award costs to the losing party in…

Case Law, EPO, Exceptions to patentability, France, FRAND, Injunction, Inventive step, IP Management, Litigation, Novelty, Patents, SEP

(Dhenne Avocats)/

In the first part of this interview (see here), I already mentioned some of the preconceived ideas about French Courts, which makes France almost systematically considered as one of the last territory to litigate: jurisdictions would be anti-patentee, slow, unable to order preliminary injunctions, even not “specialized”. The Cross-Examination Part I of Mrs. Nathalie Sabotier…

Denmark, ownership, Patents

(Bugge Valentin)/

On March 5th, 2021, the Danish Maritime and Commercial High Court ruled to acquit the Board of Appeal for Patents and Trademarks (the “Appeals Board”) in a case regarding the notification of a transfer of a patent between two companies. The case, which included aspects of both company law, patent law and questions of civil…