CJEU: reimbursement of legal costs in IP infringement proceedings must not be disproportionate or even insignificant On 28 July 2016, the CJEU ruled in a case concerning the reimbursement of legal costs in a patent infringement action in Belgium (United Video Properties Inc. v. Telenet NV, C‑57/15). It declared that a flat fee reimbursement system,…
Where should the London branch of the central division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) go, if it has to be relocated due to the Brexit vote in the UK? To Milan? The Hague? Brussels? Any other city? Public lobbying has started in Italy with a letter of the Industrial Property Consultants Institute. The organization…
The Federal Supreme Court just handed down a long-expected judgment on the prerequisites under which a plaintiff has to provide a collateral for legal expenses. The result may encourage further trolls to use the German litigation system. Background Under Sec. 110 German Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO), a person who files a civil suit in…
The German Federal Court of Justice (FCJ) recently issued a second decision in a nullity lawsuit revolving around a windscreen for vehicles (Fahrzeugscheibe II, X ZR 41/14). While the first decision dealt with interesting questions regarding the transferability of the right to priority, the second one treads more conventional paths, yet it still contains a…
The federal district court in Hartford, Connecticut, erred in denying judgment as a matter of law in an action in which a manufacturer of thermal flexographic processors alleged that a former partner misappropriated trade secrets engaged in an anticompetitive conspiracy that damaged the manufacturer’s business and hurt customers. The U.S. Court of Appeals in New…
The asserted claims of a DuPont patent disclosing a process for preparing flexographic printing plates were invalid as obvious over prior art and therefore could not support infringement contentions against DuPont’s competitor, MacDermid Printing Solutions, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has held. In addition, MacDermid’s Digital CST printing plates did not…
Therapeutic effect of a 2-10mg once yearly dosage regimen is made plausible by an example showing clinical effect of dosage regimens of 0.25, 0.50 and 1mg per three months, 2.0 mg every six months and 4.0 mg once a year. For the purpose of the problem-solution approach, two documents describing a treatment of diseases which…
The High Court has granted the Claimants’ request for declarations of non-infringement (“DNIs”) regarding several national designations of the Defendant’s European Patent for a pemetrexed disodium and vitamin B12 combination in respect of reconstitution of the Claimants’ lyophilised pemetrexed product when reconstituted in dextrose solution. The issues in this case were remitted by the Court…
Although patent litigation in Europe is fragmented, businesses have been able to cope and a unitary system may not be strictly necessary for the patent system to function in Europe. However, the new UPC does represent an opportunity to improve the system via greater efficiency and consistency. Dr Luke McDonagh of the Law School at…
While the subject of the appropriate court fees to pay when issuing proceedings is not normally an exciting one to write about (indeed some readers of this post will say that this remains the case) a recent application concerning the appropriate fees to pay in a trade mark action (Lifestyles Equities CV v Sportsdirect.com Retail…
