A panel of international judges gave their interesting perspectives on the tribunals on which they serve and the cases which they hear. Annabelle Bennett (Federal Court of Australia) discussing case management in Australia introducing reforms to streamline procedure and how this has been successful (in taking some power away from the lawyers). In particular, she…
Dimitrios T Drivas (White & Case) gave the speedy run down on the following points and cases, which some might find useful for following up on points of interest: Supreme Court The decision that in exceptional cases reasonable attorney’s fees may be paid to the prevailing party (an exception to the rule that each party…
The Hon. Ryuichi Shitara (Chief Judge, Intellectual Property High Court, Tokyo, Japan) gives an insight into the practice in Japan of Court-encouraged settlement. He explains that it is not compulsory for the parties to settle and the Court (composed of three judges) can attempt to encourage it at any stage. Late stage settlement is relatively…
The Unitary Patent and the UPC in Practice Paul England (Taylor Wessing) described the infringement position under the UPC Agreement and the UP Regulation (1257/2012). He explained that there was concern that the UP Regulation infringement provisions would be referable to the CJEU which was seen as undesirable and these were replaced with Article 5(3). This…
A View from the Task Force and the Judiciary The topic of injunctions under the UPCA was raised by Johannes Karcher (Head of the Task Force, EU Patent and Unified Patent Court, Germany) with particular focus on the discretion of the Court by a rule specifying the Court ‘may’ provisionally grant an injunction (an interim…
In a recent decision of the UK Intellectual Property Office, an applicant for a UK patent was allowed to file a response to an examination report (“office action”) more than 18 months after the due date for response originally set in the examination report. This is an extraordinary effective extension of time, obtained well after…
The crucial decision of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) on Spain’s objections to the Unitary Patent Package will be delivered on 5 May 2015. The date was published on the CJEU’s website earlier this week. The decision could remove what is widely seen as the last major stumbling block for the creation of the…
Probir J Mehta (Acting Assistant US Trade Representative for IP and Innovation) refers to IP being a critical part of the trade agenda and America’s future. The trans-pacific partnership is a landmark trade deal representing a next-generation agreement. For example, seeking criminal sanctions against breaches of trade secrets. The transatlantic trade and investment partnership between…
Lord Hoffman (former Court of Appeal judge and presently at Queen Mary University) spoke about what can be done to harmonise the law. He said that the governments of most jurisdictions accept that judges have some choice in how the law is developed. There is then a range of views of how much regard should…
The 23rd Annual Fordham Intellectual Property Law and Policy Conference 2015 has kicked off with opening remarks from Hugh Hansen from Fordham University School of Law, New York, reminding everyone to learn, debate and have fun! David J Kappos has started the panel debate on the state of IP in China with a story about…
