This author began his career in patent litigation in 1996. In those days, a solicitor’s role was confined largely to the preparation of trials in the English Patents Court. Huge amounts of time were spent on discovery – searching and reviewing a client’s documents, followed by reviewing the opponent’s documents and invariably complaining to the…
In a recent decision rendered by the Danish Maritime & Commercial Court (the “MCC”), Novartis successfully defended its position that even if the patent-in-suit had been invalidated by the EPO Opposition Division, there were no grounds to lift a PI as the patent-in-suit (DK/EP 2 292 219 – Rivastigmin) must be upheld as valid and…
The Board of Appeal held that “Biogen insufficiency”, the situation in which the full extent of the monopoly claimed exceeds the technical contribution to the art, is not a distinct ground for invalidity from “classical insufficiency”. Further, the fact that a skilled person is not able to carry out the invention without using the disclosed…
Masaba Inc. did not infringe five Superior Industries patents that disclosed a conveyor system for drive-over truck dumps and a braced, telescoping support strut, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled (Superior Industries, Inc. v. Masaba, Inc., June 2, 2016, Hughes, T.). Because the district court correctly construed the claim terms…
The German ratification proceedings concerning the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA) have been formally started. According to German Rechtsanwalt Dr. Ingve Stjerna, the first hearing on the UPCA is planned to be held in the German Parliament on the evening (21:40) of 23 June 2016. Remarkably this is exactly the date that the Brexit referendum…
If a European Patent has been licensed to licensees in different European countries, opting out of the Unified Patent Court might be preferable to keep these licenses separated as far as possible, according to Peter Chrocziel. He is partner in the Intellectual Property practice of Freshfields in Munich and co-author of the publication ‘International Licensing and…
The main requirements for applying for a preliminary injunction in Spain are “fumus boni iuris” (i.e., indicia of likelihood of success) and “periculum in mora” (i.e. danger in the delay). A recent decision handed down by the three Barcelona patent Judges (the Judge Rapporteur was the Judge in charge of Commercial Court number 5) has…
Claim construction and scope of protection are perhaps the most hotly contested topics in Dutch patent law. Over the last ten years, we have had no less than six Supreme Court decisions dealing with these matters. The latest development in this continuing saga is the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bayer / Sandoz, which offers…
On 29 April 2016, the Australian Productivity Commission published a Draft Report on its enquiry into Australia’s Intellectual Property Arrangements. Although the Draft Report provides separate analyses on the state of copyright, patents, designs and trade marks, it arrives at a common conclusion: Aussie IP needs work. “Not as effective as they could be” The…
Bulgaria has deposited its instrument of ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement at the Council of the European Union. It is the tenth member state to complete the ratification process. The Bulgarian Parliament had ratified the UPCA at the start of April 2016. Earlier, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and Sweden…
