The United Kingdom can remain a member state of the Unitary Patent (UP) system after Brexit and it will not have to accept the supremacy of EU law by separate agreement, according to Prof Dr Ansgar Ohly of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität of Munich. He explained this in a recent lecture at the European Patent Judges‘ Forum…
Will the UK participate in the Unitary Patent system despite the Brexit vote of 23 Juni 2016? It has been the most important question concerning the system for over five months, but probably not much longer. Various sources expect the UK to make an announcement about its plans with the UP and UPC during the…
The Kluwer Patent Blog received an interesting contribution from the Italian Trade Union of IP Consultants in Italy (SICPI), concerning the relocation of the London section of the UPC Central Division in case the UK decides to leave the Unitary Patent system. Giovanni Bruni of the SICPI argues there are good arguments for Milan as…
The best way forward for the Unitary Patent system after the Brexit vote of 23 June 2016 is to find a way to keep the UK inside the system. That is the opinion of Francesco Macchetta, director IP of the Bracco Group, a healthcare multinational with headquarters in Milan. But if the British don’t stay…
The parliament in the Netherlands will hold a debate on the ‘deteriorating social situation’ at the European Patent Office. The recent dismissal of a SUEPO trade union leader in The Hague was one of the issues triggering a request for the debate. MP Sharon Gesthuizen of the socialist SP received support for her request from…
On 21 October 2016, the Federal Court of Australia handed down its judgment in the case of Apotex Pty Ltd v Warner-Lambert Company LLC (No 2) [2016] FCA 1238 (FCA Judgment). Justice John Nicholas found in favour of Warner-Lambert, both upholding the validity of its patent claims and granting final injunctions restraining infringement by Apotex….
The unicameral parliament of Lithuania has adopted two laws concerning the future Unitary Patent system. A bill on ratification of the UPC Agreement and a bill on the establishment of a Nordic-Baltic regional division of the UPC were approved on 3 Novermber 2017. They will enter into force on 1 July 2017, according to the…
In my latest Kluwer post I wrote about the confusion caused by the most recent decision of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court concerning the doctrine of equivalence. This confusion seems to have confused me as well. With respect to the background of the decision, it was actually the technical judge’s expert opinion, which affirmed an infringement of…
An EPO board of appeal decided that it had the discretion to admit a late filed document, even though the opposition division had exercised its discretion not to admit the document. In this respect the board diverged from T 2102/08. The board held that it may be confronted with additional facts (submissions) and different circumstances…
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board properly found during inter partes review (IPR) that two claims of a patent directed to a mechanism for controlling the operation of a downhole drill string were invalid as anticipated by a prior art reference, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has decided. The court rejected…
