Archive - April 2018

Sam Gyimah MP, Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, announced yesterday (26 April 2018) that the UK has ratified the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (UPCA). The announcement came during Mr Gyimah’s speech at the IPAN World IP Day event held in the House of Commons. Mr Gyimah said “Ratification of […]

For a product to qualify for SPC protection, the product must be “protected” by a basic patent in force.  The CJEU has previously stated that “protected” means something more than simply falling within the granted claim scope.  In a referral from the High Court of England and Wales in Teva v Gilead (C-121/17), Mr Justice […]

The Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA) has elected Tania Clark, partner in Withers & Rogers’ Trade Mark group, as its new President. Tania commenced her two-year term on 10 April 2018.

Earlier this year, the European Patent Office (EPO) published a decision allowing a petition for review (see R4/17), bringing the grand total of allowed petitions to eight, out of a total of 151 filed. As is evident from this small total, the petitioner rarely triumphs. In brief, a petition for review is a formal request […]

One of the requirements for obtaining SPC protection for a product is that the product must be subject to a marketing authorisation and the product must also be “protected” by a patent.  The CJEU ruled that the meaning of “protected” is narrower than simply infringing the claim, without saying where exactly the boundary between protected […]

Following a Decision of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (found here), it is now possible to pay the third year renewal fee for European patent (EP) applications up to six months in advance of the due date. Previously, with regard to all renewal fees due for an EP application, it was only […]