The Bulgarian Patent Office refused to issue a patent for an invention claimed as a medical use because the subject matter constituted a method for treatment of the human body and therefore it was unpatentable under Art. 7(2) of the Bulgarian Patents and Utility Models Registration Act (“PUMRA”). The decision of the Patent Office was…
Factual findings did not support a district court’s conclusion that a former analyst for two financial services companies intended to cause a loss of $12 million when he unlawfully copied proprietary computer files and used the data to conduct computerized stock market trades for himself. A 36-month prison sentence based on the erroneous intended loss…
To ensure you don’t miss out on interesting IP law developments reported by our Trademark Law and Copyright Law bloggers, we will, on a regular basis, provide you with a top 3 overview. Top 3 Kluwer Trademark Blog posts in February 2016 1) Denmark: Citations of case law considered trademarks, by Lasse…
By Benjamin Bai and Jill (Yijun) Ge Consider this hypothetical: a company discovered a new compound and obtained a patent on the compound. Later, this compound was discovered to be ten times harder than diamond. Soon, cutting tools made with this new compound replaced all other types of cutting tools, including diamond tools. Two years…
Two draft bills implementing the UPCA in the German legal system have recently been proposed by the German Ministry of Justice (BMJV) and shall be considered in the following. The first is the ratification law itself consisting of only three articles. The second one is a relatively complex draft bill mainly amending the German Act…
Europe is preparing for the launch of the new Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court (UPC). A provisional phase for the UPC is expected to start later this year, with a view to a full start of the system in the spring of 2017. In a series of articles, Kluwer IP Law explains the…
SH 2016.T-4-13S-SH2016.T.4.13 In continuation of the Europe-wide PI cases a few years back, the Danish Maritime and Commercial Court recently rendered judgment in a patent case between AstraZeneca and Krka. As the reader may recall, AstraZeneca was the holder of patent no. DK/EP 1 020 461 for a magnesium salt of the active substance esomeprazol…
There has been some confusion in Germany as to whether exhibiting products and services on a trade show qualifies as an infringing act or not. Most prominently, two decisions of the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) have denied a general rule that any presentation of goods or services on a trade show justifies…
Case reported and summarised by Gregory Bacon, Bristows LLP Mr Justice Carr has issued an interesting interim judgment regarding the jurisdiction of the English Court to grant negative declarations in relation to patent applications before the EPO (Fujifilm Kyowa Biologics v Abbvie Biotechnology [2016] EWHC 425 (Pat)). The case concerns an application by Fujifilm Kyowa…
In our blog of 31 October 2013 (“Groucho Marx, fairness and the opting-out fee“) we explained that Groucho Marx once sent a telegram to the Friar’s Club of Beverly Hills with the following text: “Please accept my resignation. I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept people like me as a member.”…
