News

The Brexit transition period came to an end on 31 December 2020 and changes to IP rights started to take effect on 1 January 2021. As a European firm, we can continue to cater for your needs in both the EU and the UK. There’s no need to change how you interact with us to […]

The German Upper Chamber (the Bundesrat) has now approved the UPC (Unified Patent Court) agreement. The final step for the UPC to be brought into German law is the signature by German’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier which we expect shortly (baring any further constitutional objections). As we reported in November, German Parliament’s Lower Chamber (the Bundestag) […]

A two-thirds majority has now been established in the Bundestag for the UPC (Unified Patent Court) Agreement. As we reported in March the German Constitutional Court ruled that UPC (Unified Patent Court) ratification at that time would be unconstitutional in Germany due to the failure of the Bundestag to secure a two-thirds majority of all […]

The UK High Court has recently granted an interim injunction in a battle between two battery separator manufacturers, Celgard and Shenzhen Senior Technology Material Company (“Senior”), over accusations of the unlawful acquisition of trade secrets. The judgement can be found here. Celgard (a US manufacturer of battery separators) brought proceedings against Senior (a Chinese manufacturer […]

The UK Court of Appeal has recently upheld a judgement of the UK High Court (see here), refusing an application for a preliminary injunction (see here). The case concerns two anti-insomnia drugs, Circadin and Slenyto, marketed by the claimants Neurim Pharmaceuticals and their licensee Flynn Pharma, respectively. The claimants sought interim injunctive relief to restrain […]

CJEU reverses Neurim and rejects possibility of SPCs for new therapeutic applications of previously authorised products On 9 July 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) handed down its decision in Santen SAS v Directeur général de l’Institut national de la propriété industrielle (C-673/18), concluding that it is not possible to obtain […]