29th Jul 2013
Since 2010, the European Patent Office has been “raising the bar” with the aim of allowing the EPO to deliver “high-quality patents based on an efficient search and examination process”. Although the average grant rate of European patents for 2012 remained stable at about 50% (that is for every two European patent applications filed, one […]
22nd Jul 2013
In recent years, advances in medical and human genetics have led to exciting and revolutionary advances in medicine. One such area, which is now benefitting from the fruits of genetic research, is personalised medicine. In May of this year, the actress Angelina Jolie made headlines worldwide after undergoing a double mastectomy, following the discovery of […]
19th Jul 2013
Compulsory licensing became a hot topic last year when India granted its first compulsory license for a patented pharmaceutical product. The case between Natco, an Indian generics manufacturer, and Bayer, an innovative drug producer found its way into newspapers around the world (http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/jul/26/pharmaceutical-companies-health-worlds-poor-risk, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/business/global/india-overrules-bayer-allowing-generic-drug.html?_r=0). Since the decision was announced there have been further developments in […]
18th Jul 2013
Three of our partners, Aidan Robson, Nick Reeve and Phil Bateswere in Tokyo last week giving a presentation to the members of AIPPI Japan. The presentation was entitled “European routes to protection: Is too much choice a bad thing?”, and highlighted aspects of the proposed new European unitary patent system, key differences between national patent […]
15th Jul 2013
The UK Supreme Court’s ruling of 3rd July 2013 ([2013] UKSC 46) in the long running battle between Virgin and Zodiac concerning infringement of Virgin’s patent rights relating to its Upper Class aircraft seats is set to have a significant impact on the award of damages in the UK, in particular where a European patent […]
12th Jul 2013
The European Patent Office (EPO) provides an extremely powerful, and free-to-use, patent searching tool called Espacenet (available here). Using the various search options provided on the home screen, it is possible to search for published patents and patent applications using keywords, patent publication numbers, and patent classification codes. Discovered patents can be viewed and downloaded […]
8th Jul 2013
If you protect your brands, inventions or designs by registration, you will be used to dealing with Intellectual Property Offices and will perhaps also be familiar with the official registers in which the details of registrations are recorded. You will also likely be aware that registration of most forms of intellectual property (IP) brings advantages […]
5th Jul 2013
On 13th June 2013, the Supreme Court – the highest court in the US – issued its decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v Myriad Genetics, Inc. concerning the patentability of isolated human genes. The court held that “a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it […]