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Yearly Archives: 2015

The Unitary Patent Package: Two years on. What progress has been made?

EU flagBack in December last year IPcopy started to take a look back at the unitary patent package and where we are in delivering this new unitary patent system. Our first “Where are we now?” post provided an overview of the Unified Patent Court itself. This entry asks what progress has there been on the road to getting the system up and running. Remember that although the original implementation date (end of 2014) was missed there has been some significant progress in delivering the new system. (more…)

The UPC in London: a look at the location options

The long road to the UPC

The long road to the UPC

In the last week or so discussion around the potential location of the UPC in London has surfaced again with news that the UPC Taskforce has informally approached a number of groups including IPLA, IP Federation, EPLAW and others for their views of a couple of potential sites for London’s UPC divisions. Full details of the two sites in question can be found here.

After reading the IPKat articles (1, 2) on the subject, IPcopy reached out to the UPC Taskforce and others to try and glean some additional information on the issue. This is presented below along with, for what it’s worth, this ipcopywriter’s personal views on the issue. (more…)

Why Bother with Technology Transfer?

Tech transfer

Tech transfer

Technology transfer, or the process of converting scientific and technological advances into marketable goods and services, can be daunting. So why bother? Whether you’re a prospective licensor or licensee, this article will help you to understand the motivations for engaging in this important business process and to identify some risks which should be considered. (more…)

Is it worth suing? – a gambler’s perspective

file000745382336In a previous post (“Before you sue …” of 29 April 2014), I considered the business and other relationships that might rationally inhibit your client from suing for patent infringement, or even making any approach to the infringer.  Now suppose that the client is in fact not so inhibited (and assume also, as in the previous post, that he is not a PAE = patent assertion entity = NPE = non-practising entity = patent troll).  Should legal costs deter your client from suing?  In (for instance) big pharma disputes, both the significance of the infringement and the financial resources of the patent owners are usually such that legal costs are ultimately not a deterrent to litigation.  But if the scale of infringement is moderate – with the client expecting if he wins to gain lowish millions in damages and future royalties – legal costs need careful consideration before litigation is begun. (more…)