In a decision of 3 June 2022, opposing NOVARTIS and BIOGARAN, the Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris accepted the admissibility of a request for provisional measures based on a European patent application. This solution, however surprising it may seem at first sight, could nevertheless be justified. The decision under review is an order rendered in a…
Staff members of the EPO have little confidence in the top management. They don’t think there is a clear and coherent strategy, there are big concerns about quality and also about the increasing work load. This is shown by the fifth Technologia Survey, the results of which have been shared with staff last week. The…
This almost unnoticed metamorphosis, which has been hardly or not at all commented on, is nevertheless an important reform of French law. Order 2021-1658 of 15 December 2021 extends the system of devolution of rights in respect of software (Article L. 113-9-1 of the Intellectual Property Code) and employee inventions (L. 611-7-1 of the Intellectual…
Staff members of the European Patent Office will demonstrate in front of the Isar building in Munich during the meeting of the Administrative Council on 29 June 2022, where re-election of president António Campinos will be discussed. The demonstration has been organised by trade union Suepo. According to an announcement distributed among Suepo members, Campinos was…
In a decision rendered on April 1, 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled on the determination of the starting point of the statute of limitations for claiming additional remuneration related to mission inventions. The case before the Paris Court of Appeals raised the issue of the statute of limitations with respect to 11 unexploited…
On June 17, 2022, WTO members adopted a waiver to the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) allowing suspension of patent related to the Covid-19 pandemic, which is the result of a year and a half of intense debate. Already there is a lot of alarm in the industry about this…
Readers who have followed our last two blog entries and the vast number of comments received, will have seen the following two conclusions surfacing. First, although the UPC ‘s Protocol on Provisional Application, in reality, may not be in force, there is nothing to worry about because there are no police around. Second, there is…
Ahead of their meeting late June, a petition calling for a conference of ministers of contracting states under Article 4a EPC has been sent to the members of the Administrative Council of the EPO. The petition is an initiative of the EPO’s trade union SUEPO, which has invited all staff members to sign it. According…
The Brazilian Patent Office (BRPTO) is improving its examination procedure, trying to reduce the backlog. As more decisions are issued, we are learning about the approach of the examiners to different topics in patent law. An ongoing hot topic is whether the examiners are accepting post-filing experimental evidence during patent examination. The Metallurgy and Material…
Every year the Japan Patent Office (JPO) publishes a status report in spring, and this year’s report (the “Status Report 2022”) was published on March 30, 2022. The Status Report 2022 contains statistics on Japanese and worldwide IP trends, and information on the JPO’s initiatives to protect industrial property rights and to promote innovation. The…
