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…

“I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” U2’s iconic lyric might capture how patent holders feel when an anti-suit injunction (ASI) from a foreign court threatens to derail enforcement in Europe. Rather than yielding, European courts often respond with a swift countermeasure: the anti-anti-suit injunction (AASI). An AASI prevents litigants from seeking or enforcing…

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…

Last Tuesday, the big news in the patent world was of course that the UPC’s Court of First Instance (CFI), Düsseldorf Division, in case 355/2023, found that if the defendant is domiciled in a Contracting Member State (in the case at hand, Germany), the UPC has jurisdiction to hear the infringement action in respect of…

In proceedings for provisional measures, the Applicant is required to provide cumulatively reasonable evidence to satisfy the Court with a sufficient degree of certainty that: (i) the Applicant is entitled to initiate proceedings under Art. 47 UPCA; (ii) the patent is valid; (iii) its rights are being infringed or that such infringement is imminent. Additionally,…

In July 2023, the Japanese electronics company Panasonic initiated a series of patent infringement and FRAND-related proceedings against several subsidiaries of the Chinese consumer electronics maker Oppo (and in parallel against another Chinese company, i.e. Xiaomi), at the local divisions of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in Mannheim and Munich (*). Panasonic’s suit targeted Oppo…

Forget about Gangnam Style, it is overrated. Aya Nakamura Djadja is more than ever the dance-floor song of the moment (especially since her performance at the 2024 Olympics Game opening ceremony). Is Joost Luchtballon able to dethrone the French Queen? Same question for UPC: after the French and the Italian Styles, now we also have…