27th Mar 2015
The EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal has this week issued its eagerly awaited ruling on the subject of clarity of amendments in opposition proceedings. This has been a feature in many opposition hearings in recent years where opponents have raised clarity as an issue when a patentee amends its claims. We will provide a full […]
26th Mar 2015
Second medical use patent claims in the so-called “Swiss-type” form, i.e. claims formulated as “Use of a substance X in the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of disease Y”, were deemed allowable by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (“EPO”) in decision G5/83 of 1984. However, for decades it […]
26th Mar 2015
A fundamental feature of patent law is that if an invention was known to the public before the filing date (or priority date) of the patent application, the invention lacks novelty and so is not patentable. A grace period is a period of time before the filing date of a patent application, during which it […]
25th Mar 2015
In the aftermath of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, many Formula One teams will be working frantically to iron out technical problems in the hope of catching Mercedes, whose cars cruised to a 1st and 2nd place victory in Melbourne. With the slower of their two cars finishing more than 33 seconds clear of their […]
24th Mar 2015
The final episode of the latest series of Dragons’ Den has just aired, a show I love, but…I can’t help but feel that they do a disservice to intellectual property and the public perception of it. In that final episode, yet again, Deborah Meaden was called upon to provide an in-depth assessment of the patent […]
19th Mar 2015
In May 2014, it was announced that Japan would reinstate a post-grant opposition system. Since then, more detail of the new system has emerged. We discuss the salient points here, and explain the action that patent applicants in Japan and potential opponents should take to prepare. The new opposition system will come into force on […]
18th Mar 2015
Reddie & Grose LLP is pleased to announce that it has promoted four of its Senior Associates to Partners, with effect from 1 April 2015, marking a significant enlargement of the partnership in two offices. The promotions bring the total number of partners to 21 and reflect the firm’s plans for securing its leadership position […]
13th Mar 2015
Amazon, one of the world’s largest online retailers, has never been one to shy away from pushing the boundaries of internet shopping. Famous for its patented one-click ordering system, which makes it even easier to make all of those sometimes unwanted impulse purchases, Amazon is also arguably building a reputation for some more controversial business […]