Two months after a series of ILOAT judgments stating that former EPO president Benoit Battistelli abused his power by implementing new rules to restrict the rights of staff members to strike in 2013, the EPO has detailed in which way it intends to carry out the judgments. According to a SUEPO report, EPO president António…
On 14 September 2021, the Japan Patent Office (JPO) announced that most of the amendments to the Patent Act and other intellectual property laws, which were promulgated on 21 May 2021, will come into force on 1 April 2022. The amendments cover various matters such as the introduction of online oral hearings at the trial…
Germany and Slovenia have ratified the Protocol on the Provisional Application (PPA) of the Unified Patent Court Agreement. According to a report of the UPC Preparatory Committee, the German government deposited the instrument of ratification for the PPA on 27 September 2021. It wrote: “This is a decisive step on the way to the establishment…
Can an artificial intelligence (“AI”) machine be an inventor and can the machine’s owner apply for a patent? These were two of the key questions which the Court of Appeal grappled with in Thaler v Comptroller General of Patents [2021] EWCA Civ 1374. The Court, by a 2-1 majority, answered both these questions, as well…
Two recent decisions in South Africa and Australia have accepted the fanciful thesis that an AI could be an inventor. I have no intention of commenting these decisions here, I simply want to try to understand how such a farfetched (and useless) idea, could have gained such ground in such a short time. Let’s say it right away: although…
In our blog of 27 August 2021, we explained that the Barcelona Appeal Court (Section 15), in a very interesting Ruling of 16 October 2020, decided that the claims as amended before the EPO Boards of Appeal should become the subject of the national proceedings in lieu of the claims asserted in the initial infringement…
Submission of an abbreviated Biologics License Application (“aBLA”), under the Biosimilar Price Competition and Innovation Act of 2009 (“BPCIA”), for a biosimilar version of an already-approved biologic drug constitutes an “artificial act of infringement” for which the biologic’s patent owner may file suit.[1] In the recent AbbVie Inc. v. Alvotech hf.[2] decision, the district court…
In the pharma industry, constant battles have been taking place for many decades between innovators and generics. More recently, battles among innovators have also started to occur. This post concerns a case which may have an impact on the development strategies of innovators, as well as licensing strategies of universities and public research institutions which…
In April Enrico Bonadio, Luke McDonagh and Francesco Chierichetti reported in this blog four decisions in Italian SEP-related litigations. Since then, thanks to further research and inputs from friends and colleagues, we have come across some other unpublished decisions, which we want to highlight here. Court of Turin, 4 April 2014 – HTC Europe…
The Brazilian President gave his assent to the bill introducing new rules on the compulsory licensing of patents, which facilitates the compulsory licensing of COVID-19 vaccines’ patents. The Brazilian President vetoed, however, certain key provisions of the bill, including paragraphs 8, 9 and 10 of the amended Article 71 of the Brazilian Industrial Property Act…
