It took longer to arrive than expected but here it is. The UK Courts have been given an opportunity to depart from the jurisprudence of the CJEU in their interpretation of the SPC Regulation. The opportunity has arisen in the following way. In December 2023 the English High Court dismissed an appeal by Merck against…
The European Parliament supports the introduction of a full ban on patents for all plants produced by certain New Genomic Techniques (NGT), plant material, parts thereof, genetic information and process features they contain. The ban, part of a proposal to introduce two different categories of NGT plants, got support in a vote today. The provision…
The SPC reform which is currently undergoing the legislative procedure in the European Union has taken a further decisive step forward, as the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI Committee) has approved an amended version of the draft text of the four new EU regulations on SPCs for medicinal and plant protection products as…
Opt-outs are dealt with in Part IV of the UPC Agreement entitled “Transitional Provisions”. The prevailing view is that these provisions should be interpreted to mean that an opted-out patent is no longer subject to the jurisdiction of the UPC and the opt out shall remain in place for the lifetime of the patent. Furthermore,…
From the potpourri of decisions that the Swiss Federal Supreme Court handed down last year, I have selected one in subjective hindsight that I consider to be particularly relevant regarding further cases. The outcome of most decisions of the Swiss Federal Patent Court in 2023 heavily depended on the specific circumstances and the effects of…
From 1 April 2024, the European Patent Office will increase most official fees by around 4%. The first two renewal fees, in respect of the third and fourth years, will also see significant rises of 30% in an effort to offset revenue lost as a result of the EPO reducing application pendency time. Hand in…
Italy and the Unified Patent Court signed an agreement last week to formalize their cooperation on bringing the third seat of the UPC central division to Milan. As was announced in a press release of the Italian ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation, the agreement was signed on behalf of Italy by the director…
The legal regime for IP in North Macedonia is generally in line with international standards. North Macedonia has ratified all major IP Conventions and the laws are harmonized with these acts. The most important laws governing IP are the law on industrial property and the law on copyright and related rights. However, IP matters are…
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) of the European Patent Office has published a paper on the activities of the Industry Patent Quality Charter, titled ‘50 years EPC – The EPO ignoring the skilled person’. The Industry Patent Quality Charter (IPQC) was started by Beat Weibel, chief IP Counsel at Siemens, in October 2022 out of…
The potential of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) in driving the ecological transition poses a compelling question. Could these patents be instrumental in fostering innovative technologies and ensuring interoperability of products that are key to the ecological transition? Indeed, within the framework of the European Green Deal, which aims for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050, the…
