The PTAB did not establish the existence of a motivation for a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the aspects of existing patents and prior art. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has vacated and remanded a decision of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board holding that a patent…
As many laboratories around the world are making every effort to find a treatment for Covid-19 and more clinical trials are conducted[1], it is worth considering the legal mechanisms that could facilitate the quantitatively and qualitatively sufficient, and financially acceptable, exploitation of patent rights that will prove useful in curbing the epidemic and preventing a…
As many laboratories around the world are making every effort to find a treatment for Covid-19 and more clinical trials are conducted[1], it is worth considering the legal mechanisms that could facilitate the quantitatively and qualitatively sufficient, and financially acceptable, exploitation of patent rights that will prove useful in curbing the epidemic and preventing a…
As explained in our blog of 25 March 2020, the declaration of the state of emergency by the Spanish Government on 14 March affected judicial activities in Spain very seriously. For example, Court hearings were suspended, with very few exceptions. Likewise, the periods of time to carry out judicial activities (for example, filing an appeal)…
After the UK’s Prime Minister announced via a televised address on 23 March 2020 the lockdown of the UK in a bid to combat the ever-increasing impact of COVID-19, legal practitioners were keen to see how the UK Courts would cope with such measures especially given that in the High Court at least, video and…
The Federal Court of Justice made the following findings in relation to the material and personal scope of the right to prior use: 1. Where a pre-used embodiment does not implement all features of the patent claim, a modification of the pre-used embodiment which implements all the features is not covered by the right of…
In the present interlocutory case, VUB and Ablynx requested inspection of evidence that was seized from QVQ on the basis of suspicion of patent infringement. The provisions judge came to the conclusion that the interests of the claimants did not provide sufficient reason to – preliminarily – grant the inspection. Case date: 21 January 2020 Case…
Discussions are under way at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on enabling wider access to some patented drugs and medical supplies during the coronavirus pandemic. According to press agency Reuters, director-general of the (WIPO) Francis Gurry made this clear during a conference last week. “This is a hot…
In the United States, a judge may increase the damages for patent infringement up to threefold[1] resulting in awards of millions, or even billons, of dollars. In 2016, the Supreme Court, in Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics,[2] rejected the then prevailing objective standard for determining enhanced damages and replaced it with a subjective one requiring,…
On 1 April 2020, the Court of Appeal, led by Floyd LJ, handed down judgment concerning the strike out of an Arrow declaration in litigation between Mexichem and Honeywell. Honeywell owns six patents that focus on the use of two refrigerants (‘ze’ and ‘yf’) in mobile air-conditioning systems (“MACs”), often used in cars, with a…
