In the decision T 1621/09 of the Boards of Appeal of the EPO, it was decided that late filed arguments of the appellant amended the case to such an extent that their admittance lay within the Board’s discretion, even though the new arguments were based on facts and evidence already in the proceedings. Having found so the Board, exercising its discretion, did not admit the new arguments into the proceedings.
The Higher Regional Court Dusseldorf decided on 26 April 2012 (docket I-2 U 18/12) that the admissibility (under Article 27 BR) of exclusive licensee’s patent infringement action despite pending NDA proceedings against patentee in another Member State depends on whether the declaratory judgment will have the force of res judicata against licensee. This must be…
by Stefan Lieck In the judgement dated 12/01/2012 (file no. I ZB 43/11), the Federal Supreme Court decided on the question as to whether an administrative fine is to be imposed on the managing director of a limited liability company [GmbH] if previously, both the GmbH as well as its managing director were ordered, upon…
On 20 March 2012, the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Paris rendered its decision in the case relating to raloxifene, a molecule useful for treating or preventing osteoporosis in post-menopausal women, opposing Teva to Eli Lilly. This decision raises many questions, first concerning drug patents in particular (patentability of second medical use, patentability of the resolution of…
Today it seems to be commonplace that without a patent system people would be less motivated to invest time and resources into making inventions that may foster technological progress. What is less clear is where the origins of this concept should be traced. Ancient Greece, which made so many contributions to knowledge, neglected the practical…
The Paris Court of Appeal clarified the conditions to be assessed by the Court in order to grant an interlocutory injunction pursuant to Article L. 615-3 of the French Intellectual Property Code. A summary of this case will be posted on http://www.KluwerIPCases.com
The following summarises another interesting decision for the rejuvenated Patents County Court which is continuing to flourish as a forum for smaller intellectual property disputes of all kinds. Merck is the proprietor of European Patent (EP (UK) 1 480 717) which, in relation to the product montelukast (Singulair, used for the treatment of adult and…
The Court of Appeal confirms the revocation by the District Court of a patent relating to a coformulation of timolol and dorzolamide for the treatment of glaucoma , for lack of inventive step. The combination of these two substances was disclosed before the priority date as a concomitant therapy. The skilled person would turn this…
The numerus clausus of legally permissible pieces of evidence in the new Swiss Civil Procedure Code (CPC) – unlike in many other codes of civil procedure – does not provide for private expert opinions. Only court-appointed expert opinions are foreseen in the CPC. The question therefore arises, how the new Swiss Patent Court should deal…
While many countries have laws against “double patenting” that prevent an Applicant from obtaining more than one patent on the same invention, the U.S. also bars Applicants from obtaining a second patent on an invention that is deemed to be an obvious variation of an invention claimed in a granted patent. The judicially created doctrine…
