“The Annual Review 2020 shows that demand for European patents remained nearly on a par with last year. The Office received a total of 180 250 European patent applications, 0.7% fewer than in 2019. To meet this demand during the pandemic, the EPO accelerated the digitalisation of the patent grant process and extended teleworking to almost all…
A board of appeal of the EPO held that for the problem-solution approach to inventive step the requirement of the same “purpose or effect” in the criteria for selecting the closest prior art for a claim refers to the purpose or effect of the claimed subject-matter as a whole, not just of its distinguishing feature(s)….
The German Federal Court of Justice (“BGH”) held in its decision “Papierspender” (“Paper Dispenser”) that a Community design was not automatically caught by the functionality provision of the Community Design Regulation because it had appeared in a patent application. The decision highlights the importance for product developers to keep detailed records, already during product development,…
Legal Basis The legal basis for patent law in Saudi Arabia is contained in Law no. 159 – Patents, Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits, Plant Varieties and Industrial Models Law of 2004. The provisions for compulsory licenses are contained in Articles 24 to 30 of the Saudi Arabia Patent Law Decree. Articles 24 and 25…
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…
