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’.

Case Law, CJEU, European Union, Patents, Pharma, SPC

, (Vossius & Partner)/ /1 Comment

In the field of supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) in the European Union, the majority of all CJEU referrals resolved to date have dealt with the interpretation of the – presumably simple – condition that an SPC can only be granted for an active ingredient (or a combination of active ingredients) that is “protected” by the…

Patents

(Clifford Chance)/ /5 Comments

As readers are well aware, one of the difficult tasks when applying article 69 of the European Patent Convention (“EPC”) and its Protocol of Interpretation is to strike the right balance between “interpreting” the claims in the context of the specification, while, at the same time, avoiding “importing” features of the specification into the claims….

Australia, Infringement, Patents

, (Clayton Utz)/

On 5 July 2019, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia (Full Court) handed down its judgment in the appeal and cross-appeal in Calidad Pty Ltd v Seiko Epson Corporation [2019] FCAFC 115.  The judgment considers in-depth the extent to which a patentee can: prevent those who have acquired title to a patented…

Case Law, European Union, Infringement, Injunction, Patents, SEP, United Kingdom

(Bristows)/

The Court of Appeal, overturning Birss J’s decision, decided that in the case of TQ Delta v ZyXEL, the answer was no. The facts of the case leading to this decision are somewhat unusual. TQ Delta asserted infringement of two patents declared essential to ITU-T standards. Following a trial in respect of liability, one of…

Antibodies, Case Law, European Union, Litigation, Novelty, Patents, Pharma, Pharmaceutical patent, Prior art, Sufficiency of disclosure, United Kingdom, Validity

(Bristows)/

Among the flurry of pre-summer vacation judgments coming from the Patents Court is one from Mr Justice Birss (17 July 2019), concerning the validity of Hoffman-La Roche’s patent EP (UK) 2 007 809. EP’809 is a formulation patent for the monoclonal antibody vedolizumab, marketed as Entyvio® and used to treat ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease….

EPC, EPO Decision, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Patents, Spain

(Hoffmann Eitle)/ /2 Comments

One of the worst nightmares or, in a few cases, real events in a patent professional’s life is when he/she realizes that an important term has inadvertently been missed and the usual means of term extension are no longer available. What then? Will the hardship of the applicable European or national statute inevitably hit you?…

Patents

(Clifford Chance)/

One of the principles inherited from Roman law is that “venire contra factum propium non valet“. In civil law countries such as Spain, this principle is normally labelled as the “doctrine that prohibits acting against one’s own acts” (prohibición de actuar contra los propios actos).  In common law countries, the principle is normally associated with…

China, Guidelines, Litigation, Patents

(Baker & McKenzie), (Baker & McKenzie FenXun (FTZ)), and (Baker & McKenzie FenXun (FTZ) Joint Operation Office )/ /1 Comment

After several rounds of revisions, the latest draft of the 4th amendment of the Patent Law was released by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (“NPC”) after its first reading in December 2018. This version is expected to be very close to the final amendment. As a response to the “Opinions on strengthening…