In a technically complex infringement case, Barcelona Commercial Court no. 1 establishes ad hoc procedural rules for quantification of damages at the enforcement stage. This sheds light on the procedure applicable to follow-on damage quantification proceedings, which are a critical element of enforcement strategy. As such, this case has caught the attention of Spanish patent…
Three technically qualified judges (TQJ) have resigned prior to the start of operations of the Unified Patent Court. According to a UPC announcement, Roman Maksymiw (DE), Grégoire Desrousseaux (FR) en Kirsikka Etuaho (FI) handed in their resignations received prior to 31 May 2023. The reason is not mentioned, but it is likely it is the…
As many readers will know, Apple and Optis have been engaged in international litigation concerning Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) since 2019. On 26 February 2019, Optis filed an action against Apple in the English Patents Court for infringement of the GB designations of eight European Patents. Following a finding that at least one of Optis’…
Italy, France and Germany have agreed on and proposed a division of the competences that were originally designated to London, between the three seats of the UPC central division in Milan, Paris and Munich. Milan could start taking cases around July next year. According to the proposal of the three member states, Milan will be…
Since the opening of the Unified Patent Court last Thursday, it has received eighteen cases, a spokesperson told Kluwer IP Law. According to a report by patent attorney Joeri Beetz of Keltie LLP, the first European patent to be challenged appears to be EP3666797B1, a ‘very recently granted divisional of an Amgen patent application originally…
Here we are (at last), the UPC has opened its doors to claimants. Attorneys-at-Law before national Courts, like European patent attorneys, can now bear the new title of “UCP Representative” and thus exercise a new function of representative before UPC. This raises a number of questions for them. Like my colleagues, I have been consulted…
‘In about two years’ time the new system will launch’, was the expectation when this blogger was asked in the Autumn of 2014 to start following and writing about the Unitary Patent Package. A year before, 360 candidates had already submitted an ‘expression of interest’ to become a UPC judge, of which 124 were qualified…
As explained in our entry UPC: four reasons why the PPA is not legally in force, published on April 21, 2022, one of the collateral damages of Brexit is that the conditions for the entry into force of the “Protocol to the Agreement on a UPC on Provisional Application” (the “PPA”), which included the ratification…
While the start of the Unitary Patent system will celebrated tomorrow at the UPC in Luxembourg and on Thursday with the EPO event “Welcoming the Unitary Patent System – A new era for innovation in Europe”, tomorrow also a conference will be held in Brussels (4.30 – 6.30 pm) with a distinctly more critical title:…
It is unfortunate that the Unified Patent Court hired technical judges without explaining sooner what consequences that would have for their main jobs. Patent litigator Christof Augenstein has said this in an interview with Kluwer IP Law. Augenstein argued: ‘As there are only very few countries with technically qualified judges, it was absolutely clear that…
