30th Jan 2015
Just like the Eurovision Song Contest before it, the European Patent Office is soon to extend its boundaries beyond Europe and into northern Africa. Following an announcement that a validation agreement between the European Patent Office (EPO) and Morocco will come into force on 1st March, patents granted by the EPO will be able to […]
29th Jan 2015
In UK court proceedings, at the appeal stage the parties have traditionally been limited to the cases made at first instance. It is the decision of the lower court that is reviewed by the appeal court, rather than the original question in its entirety; ‘is the patent valid’, for example, or ‘is the patent infringed’. […]
29th Jan 2015
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has recently handed down a landmark decision relating to the patentability of parthenote-derived stem cells. The CJEU ruled that Article 6(2)(c) of the Biotechnology Directive (98/44/EC) must be interpreted as meaning that an unfertilised human ovum whose division and further development has been stimulated by parthenogenesis […]
19th Jan 2015
Poisonous priority has been a cause for concern amongst patent attorneys since the concept was first raised in the February 2012 Issue of the CIPA Journal. The concern has arisen from the suggestion that, in some circumstances, a European (or UK) divisional application could destroy the novelty of a claim in a parent patent or […]
16th Jan 2015
I was delighted to read a recent press release from the UK’s chartered institute of patent attorneys (CIPA) indicating that the UK patent profession continues to out-qualify representatives from the other major European countries when sitting European patent exams. CIPA’s press release states that, in 2014, 43% of UK candidates passed the European qualifying exams, […]
12th Jan 2015
How can computer games makers obtain patent protection in Europe? Pete Sadler assesses decisions by the European Patent Office and explains the Office’s thinking in the December’s edition of Managing Intellectual Property. As The Buggles famously told us, video killed the radio star. But computer games have been waiting, for some time, to take centre stage […]
5th Jan 2015
The presence of reference numerals in the claims of European patents frequently raises questions. The UK Court of Appeal has recently ruled on this point further clarifying the situation. The Implementing Regulations to the European Patent Convention require in Rule 43(7) that: Where the European patent application contains drawings including reference signs, the technical feature […]