Austria, Case Law, Enforcement, Entitlement, Extent of Protection, Mechanical Engineering, Procedure, Scope of protection

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The right to an unpatented invention does not entitle to its exclusive use; it ceases to exist if the invention is made public without patent protection. The right to an unpatented invention encompasses no more than (i) the right to file a patent application and (ii) the right to claim the patent, in case a…

Biologics, Case Law, Extent of Protection, Inventive step, Norway, Novelty, Validity

(Wikborg Rein)/

The Court of Appeal dismissed Pharmaq’s claim that Intervet’s patent claiming deposited virus strains and closely related strains sharing genotypic and phenotypic characteristics was invalid and that its vaccine did not infringe. The court held that the patent only covered the virus in isolated form and that the isolation of the virus strain from nature…

Exceptions to patentability, Novelty, Sufficiency of disclosure, United Kingdom, Validity

(Bristows)/

The English High Court has upheld the decision of the UK Intellectual Property Office to refuse the grant of a patent for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with zinc (El-Tawil v The Comptroller General of Patents [2012] EWHC 185 (Ch)). Although the case does not break new ground, it provides a useful review…

Amendments, EPC, Jurisdiction

(EIP)/

The fees of the EPO will shortly be increased by about 5%. The EPO compensates the fees for inflation each two years; the period of two years is a compromise between frequent compensation for inflation and administrative effort of such a fee change. The increased amounts will apply to payments made on or after 1…

Added matter, Amendments, Disclaimer, EPC, Germany, Netherlands, Opposition, Revocation, United Kingdom, Validity

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

Litigation and EPO Oppositions/Appeals surrounding a controlled-release dosage form of the drug oxycodone, a morphine-like opioid analgesic developed in 1918, has kept Europe’s Pharma IP Lawyers busy for a couple of years. One of the key EP patents in this battle has been EP 722 730, and almost everything about this patent is out of…

Enforcement, Equivalents, Germany

(Hoffmann Eitle)/

In its decision “Okklusionsvorrichtung” (Aga v. Occlutech), the Federal Court of Justice (FCJ) denied patent infringement by equivalent means since the contested infringing embodiment was disclosed in the description as an alternative to the claimed one. This decision was followed in the decision “Diglycidverbindung”. In a nutshell, the FCJ, in continuation of its decisions “Schneidmesser…

Antibodies, European Union, Jurisdiction, SPC

(EIP)/

Multiple rulings of the CJEU on the SPC Regulation fail to answer questions posed by the national courts, result in greater confusion and give rise to a need for yet more references. Introduction In Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd v Medimmune Ltd & Anor [2012] EWHC 181, Mr Justice Arnold was required to apply the recent…

Germany, Jurisdiction, Procedure

(Rospatt Osten Pross)/

In my blog of 10 June 2011 I had reported about the decision by the Landgericht Duesseldorf “Pramipexol” (4a O 277/10) where the Court of first Instance had granted a PI based on an anonymous confirmation by a research institute. This decision has been reversed by the Court of Appeals (I-2 U 22/11). The Court…

Damages, Enforcement, France, Injunction, Procedure, Revocation

(Véron & Associés)/

Laboratoires Negma (hereinafter referred to as “Negma”) is the exclusive licensee of European patent No. 0 520 414 which relates to a method for the preparation of diacetylrhein (also called diacerein) having a specific degree of purity as well as diacetylrhein obtained by this process and a pharmaceutical composition containing this compound. Such European patent was first filed…