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Unitary patent: News Nuggets (November 2014)
Today we have a few nuggets of unitary patent and UPC news from around the web. In the post below we have an update on the state of German ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement, a reference to the European Patent Litigation Certificate in IPReg’s UK patent attorney exam proposals and we also highlight a couple of recent articles on the Kluwer Patent Blog that discussed unitary patent renewal fee progress and the possibility of a pro-patent bias in the UPC. (more…)
Unitary Patent and the UPC: a talk by Neil Feinson at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum
I was fortunate enough to attend last week’s seminar of the Westminster Legal Policy Forum in London. An overview of the seminar will appear on IPcopy later. This post will instead focus on one of the keynote addresses given by Neil Feinson, Director of International Policy, IPO and UK Representative, UPC Preparatory Committee.
“A cross-border, public sector IT Project. What could possibly go wrong?” * (more…)
Unitary patent: AG’s Opinion (Spanish Challenges) Re-scheduled for November
The CJEU court diary has just been updated* to show that the Advocate General’s opinion relating to the Spanish challenges to the unitary patent package (in cases C-146/13 and C-147/13) is now scheduled for 18 November 2014.
An early Christmas present beckons for either Spain or the EPO…..
The CJEU court diary can be accessed here. Screengrab below. (more…)
Clarity referral to the Enlarged Board – the EPO issues a clarifying notice (G3/14)
Referral G3/14, which relates to the issue of clarity objections in Opposition and Appeal Board proceedings, is currently pending before the EPO. As noted in an earlier IPcopy post the issues concerned are fairly fundamental and have the potential to impact many post grant proceedings via the possibility of the staying of proceedings.
The EPO has recently issued a Notice concerning the staying of proceedings due to the referral of G3/14. (more…)
UPC Ratification Progress in the Czech Republic & the Polish Economic Report
Back in July we reported that although there was a political will in the Czech Republic to ratify the Unified Patent Court Agreement, there was likely to be a delay until an economic impact assessment could be carried out. Such an assessment in turn could not happen until details of the renewal fees, court fees etc. were published.
The Kluwer Patent Blog is now also reporting that, in addition to the economic factors, there is an issue over the quality of machine translations into Czech. (more…)
Unitary patent: Spain stops play?
On Monday we posted an update on the progress of the two actions before the CJEU from Spain in respect of the Unitary Patent Package (short summary: the Advocate General’s decision has been delayed). We subsequently received a notice from Dr Ingve Stjerna relating to his latest paper on the unitary patent (Regular readers will be aware that Dr Stjerna has written a number of articles on the unitary patent system which can be accessed here). (more…)
Unitary patent: Advocate General’s opinion on the Spanish Challenge is delayed
Set phasers to “Wild Speculation”.
As has been widely covered, Spain is challenging the Unitary Patent Package via two actions at the CJEU ( C-146/13 and C-147/13 against the European Parliament and the European Council). In what has been a relatively quiet few months for news relating to the unitary patent and the unified patent court, IPcopy was looking forward to 21 October 2014 which was when the Advocate General was expected to publish the AG’s opinion on the two Spanish actions.
However, the IPO’s monthly newsletter IP Connect is now reporting that publication of the AG’s opinion will not take place in October and no revised date has been given (see page 5 of the October IP Connect). What does this mean? Perhaps the AG is just busy but maybe there are issues with the opinion and its potential impact on the Unitary Patent Package or perhaps the EPO’s role in the system. We’ll keep an eye out for further news on this issue but if anyone knows more please feel free to chime in below in the comments section.
Mark Richardson 6 October 2014
Revised EPO Guidelines now available (valid from 1 Nov 2014)
The EPO is revising its Guidelines for Examination and these are already available on the EPO website (I know, be still your beating hearts). This early publication of the Guidelines can be accessed here. The EPO has thoughtfully included a Track Changes option which can be toggled on and off via a check box in the top right of the screen. Once switched on additions appear on a green background and deletions in red strikethrough font.
One of the more notable changes is to the EPO’s searching practice on applications entering the regional phase. (more…)
Intellectual Property Act – Top 5 changes to UK design law
Some of the provisions of the Intellectual Property Act come into force today. We’ve already touched on the patents opinions service and web marking of products with patent numbers and today we’ll be taking a quick look at the changes to UK design law. So here’s our top 5 changes to UK design law….. (more…)
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