Patent asserted against Apple and Samsung merely claimed the abstract idea of taking two pictures and using those pictures to enhance each other in some way. A district court’s dismissal of infringement actions accusing Apple and Samsung of infringing a patent for digital cameras with multiple lenses was upheld by a divided Federal Circuit panel,…
As many readers will already know, two new full-time Patents Judges have been appointed to the English Court in the last 9 months – Meade and Mellor JJ. Despite the challenges that the global pandemic has brought, the English Patents Court has coped remarkably well and there has been no let-up in the progress of…
The German Bundestag has adopted amendments to the German Patent Act. The changes introduce (i) a codified proportionality defense to injunctions in patent infringement proceedings, (ii) new confidentiality rules for patent disputes, and (iii) an accelerated timeline for nullity actions. While the Bundesrat still has to approve this bill, this is not believed to be…
On Wednesday 16 June 2021, Mr Justice Mellor handed down his judgment in the second technical trial in the Mitsubishi & Sisvel v OnePlus & Xiaomi proceedings ([2021] EWHC 1639 (Pat)), holding that the patents in suit were valid and essential to the LTE standard. The proceedings had been brought in an attempt to persuade…
Legal basis The legal basis for compulsory licenses under Argentine patent law is Decree No. 260/1996 of March 20, 1996, which approves the ordered text of Law No. 24.481 on Law of Patents of Invention and Utility Models (Patent Law). The provisions for compulsory licenses are under Articles 42 to 51 of the Patent Law….
The interplay between EPO and national proceedings may take various forms. The Technical Board of Appeal revoking a European Patent during European-wide litigation is one of the more dramatic examples. The EPO’s stay of the grant of an application following an entitlement claim (an ‘entitlement torpedo’) another one. And then there is the central limitation…
On 22 April 2021 the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) gave a judgement in Claydon Yield-O-Meter v Mzuri, a UK case on patent invalidity because of prior disclosure. As is known, in order for an invention to be considered new under Section 2(2) of the UK’s Patents Act 1977, it must not form part of…
Legal Basis New Zealand is a signatory to the World Intellectual Property’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) Agreement. The legal basis for compulsory licenses under New Zealand Patent Law is the New Zealand Patents Act. The provisions for compulsory licenses are found in Sections 169 through 175. The grounds for obtaining a compulsory license…
It is very unlikely that the new complaints against the Unified Patent Court Agreement, which were filed last December with the German Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), will delay the Unitary Patent project for two or three more years. Kevin Mooney, partner of Simmons & Simmons and one of the driving forces behind the UPC and…
Legal basis Chapter VI, Licensing and the Transfer of Rights, of the Industrial Property Law (IPL) of Mexico, establishes the legal basis for compulsory licenses. Articles 70 to 77, under Chapter VI, discuss in more detail the issuance of compulsory licenses. Article 70 Any person may apply to the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (the…
