IP updates European Patent Office and China National Intellectual Property Administration Announce Pilot Programme to Enhance PCT Co-operation
IP updates EPO Announces Changes to Official Fees from 1st April 2020, with a Substantial Increase in Appeal Fee for Most Appellants The Administrative Council of the EPO has recently announced a number of amendments to the Rules relating to fees (RFees) which set the fees that are due to the European Patent Office.
IP updates Brexit and Business as Usual Following the December General Election the “Brexit Bill” legislation (based on the withdrawal agreement reached between the UK and the EU) has finally passed and the EU Parliament gave its approval yesterday. The UK will therefore be leaving the EU this Friday 31 January.
IP updates Breaking News in the CRISPR Patent Wars The Board of Appeal at the European Patent Office (EPO) hearing the opposition appeal case on The Broad Institute’s CRISPR patent EP2771468 has dismissed the appeal and upheld the decision of the first instance opposition division to revoke the patent in its entirety.
IP updates UK General Election and Brexit: Update Following the General Election held on 12 December, UK voters returned Prime Minister Boris Johnson with a substantial majority in Parliament. It seems highly probable that the Withdrawal Agreement previously agreed with the EU will now be approved by MPs, and is likely to pass fairly swiftly, with the legislation probably returning to Parliament before Christmas.
IP updates No Longer too Big to Pay In a landmark ruling in October, the UK Supreme Court overturned the decisions of three lower tribunals and courts, and awarded an inventor (Professor Ian Shanks) compensation of £2 million from his employer (Unilever) in relation to a patent protecting diabetic sensors. In making this award, the Supreme Court has swept away a perceived rule that some employers are simply “too big to pay” inventor compensation under the UK’s statutory compensation provisions. We provide an analysis of the case below.
IP updates Of Molecules & Medicine: Supreme Court gives Sweetener to Inventor In a landmark Supreme Court ruling, an inventor has won £2m compensation from Unilever for his invention for monitoring glucose levels in diabetics.
IP updates Haseltine Lake Kempner’s EPO Newsletter is Out Now! Numbers of patent applications related to “blockchain” developments have increased more or less exponentially in the last couple of years. This is roughly illustrated by the charts on the right.
IP updates Conversant v Huawei: The Doctrine of Equivalents in the Telecoms Sector The impact of the landmark Supreme Court decision in Eli Lilly v Actavis (relating to the doctrine of equivalents) has now reached the telecommunications sector with the issuance earlier this month of the High Court decision in Conversant v Huawei.
