A short but nevertheless interesting judgment was handed down last week on the different roles that technical experts on the one hand and scientific advisers on the other have to play in proceedings in the English Patents Court. The decision of Mellor J followed a case management conference in an entitlement dispute between Dr Vanessa…
Following the issuance of G 2/21 last year, we asked whether the plausibility elephant had left the room. Our Kluwer colleague and friend Miquel Montañá discussed this issue more recently here. Several decisions have meanwhile been issued applying the new “test” in G2/21, the lucidity of which may have reminded readers of the oracle of…
In accordance with the principles of procedural economy and cost efficiency as well as a fair balance between the legitimate interests of the parties, which must be considered in the interpretation of the Rules of Procedure pursuant to Article 41(3) UPCA, the proceedings are not required to be stayed under Rule 311.1, first sentence RoP,…
In a Judgment dated 5 December 2023 in the landmark fingolimod case, Barcelona Commercial Court no. 10 rejected an action brought on grounds of unfair competition by the holder of a patent application. In unique circumstances, the claimant sought to prevent generic competitors from launching on the market during the pre-grant provisional protection period. Is…
The Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court has overturned the preliminary injunction issued by the Munich local division against NanoString in its conflict with US biotech company 10xGenomics. The court cited substantial concerns about the invalidity of the asserted claim of 10xGenomics’ European Patent 4108782 B1, noting that “on the balance of probability…
The Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BRPTO) has issued a new set of guidelines to clarify its recent regulations on amending patent claims during the appellate phase and help patent applicants adapt to the new policy. Last month, we published an article regarding the decision rendered by the President of the BRPTO on 12 December…
The proposal of the European Commission on the Regulation of SEP’s (the “Proposal“) has elicited criticism from various sides, including patent attorneys and lawyers, law professors, the government of the Netherlands and Finland, prominent UPC judges (see here and here), the president of the EPO and leading SEP holders (such as Nokia and Qualcomm). The…
On February 20, 2024, a Brazilian Congressman introduced a bill to amend the national IP Statute (Law #9,279/96) and regulate the ownership of inventions generated by artificial intelligence systems. Bill #303/2024 proposes the addition of a paragraph to Article 6 of the IP Statute, which regulates ownership of inventions, with the following wording: “in the…
As William Blake put it in Auguries of Innocence, written in 1803 but not published until 1863, “A Robin Redbreast in a cage, puts all heaven in a rage”. So did the ill-crafted concept of plausibility with the case law of the EPO’s Technical Boards of Appeal (TBA). It introduced an artificial cage that trapped…
This piece deals with the Patent Mediation and Arbitration Centre (PMAC) of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), addresses key concerns about the risk of unenforceability of PMAC arbitral awards, and proposes three implementable solutions. Competence and Enforcement of UPC and PMAC final decisions The PMAC, established by Article 35 UPC Agreement, can administer mediation and…
