News
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Irreproducible Products and the implications of G 1/23
21 February 2025Read more >In the run-up to the oral proceedings for G 1/23 (“Solar cell”), due to be held on 12 March 2025, we consider the potential changes in practice at the European Patent Office (EPO) in relation to the disclosures of irreproducible products. Previously, in G 1/92, a cumulative test was set in order to determine whether […]
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UK Court of Appeal: No SPCs for 2nd Medical Uses
18 February 2025Read more >The UK Court of Appeal (CoA) recently issued its ruling in Merck Serono v Comptroller, confirming that supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) are not available for second medical uses of pharmaceutically active products. The case concerned Merck’s SPC application for cladribine, used to treat multiple sclerosis. The UK Patent Office, in accordance with Article 3(d) of […]
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The EPO accelerates to get there first in parallel proceedings with the UPC
3 February 2025Read more >In December 2024, the European Patent Office (EPO) Technical Board of Appeal issued a decision in a compelling case (T 1841/23) that involved a late intervention into accelerated appeal proceedings, with the added drama of parallel infringement proceedings at the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The parallel proceedings The appeal was filed against a decision by […]
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Costa Rica to become the Seventh Validation State at the EPO
14 January 2025Read more >Costa Rica has recently signed a landmark validation agreement with the European Patent Office (EPO). This means that Costa Rica will soon become the first country in Central America to allow European patents to be validated within its jurisdiction. Once the validation agreement is in force, Costa Rica will become the seventh EPO validation state, […]
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Business as usual in UPC equivalence decision
3 December 2024Read more >The Netherlands Local Division of the Court of First Instance of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) has recently issued the first UPC decision involving infringement by “equivalence”. Infringement by equivalence occurs when an alleged infringing product or process does not fall within the literal scope of a patent claim, but nevertheless constitutes an infringement because […]
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EU Commission issues Teva with €462.6 million anti-trust fine for “playing the divisional game”
21 November 2024Read more >In the competitive world of pharmaceuticals, innovators often employ complex strategies to maintain their market dominance. However, care must be taken to ensure that such strategies are not perceived to contravene the European Union’s competition rules, as a recent EU Commission decision shows. Teva is a pharmaceutical manufacturer which, until the expiration of the basic […]
