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Category Archives: Patents
Road to nowhere? When EP patent applications are still pending over 20 years from filing
A patent is a legal right enabling the owner to stop someone else making use of an invention. Once granted a patent will provide the owner the exclusive right to prevent others from making, using, selling, importing or distributing the patented invention without permission for a period of up to 20 years from filing (assuming the renewal fees continue to be paid).
So far so good, right? But what happens when a patent application doesn’t make it to grant within the period of 20 years from filing? What happens then? And why would you still want to prosecute a patent application for 20 years anyway? (more…)
EPO Strikes
The World IP Review is reporting that EPO staff have voted on a series of strikes commencing with a one day strike on Thursday 20th November and then increasing the number of strike days per week by one day per week until there is a whole week of strikes in the week beginning 15th December. (more…)
Unitary Patent: AG to Spain “Bot says Not” (AG dismisses Spanish Challenges to Unitary Patent)
The Advocate General’s opinions on the two Spanish actions (C-146/13, C-147/13) against the Unitary Patent Package were published today. A Press Release has also been published.
Long story short? Sorry Spain!*
*(At least as far as the Advocate General is concerned. The CJEU’s ruling on the matter will follow at some point and though it might seem likely that the Court will follow the AG, that isn’t necessarily so). (more…)
Patent Box 2.0 – changes afoot for the UK’s Patent Box Regime
This is not just any box. This is an HMRC Patent Box
Back in January David Cameron gave his EU speech and said the following: “I want the European Union to be a success and I want a relationship between Britain and the EU that keeps us in it……When we have negotiated that new settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in-or-out choice. To stay in the EU on these new terms; or come out altogether.“
Quite what that new settlement will be and how effective DC’s negotiating skills will be is something of a slight unknown. However, if last week’s joint announcement that George “I’ve secured us a discount” Osborne made with Germany on the subject of the Patent Box is anything to go by then the EU negotiation may prove interesting! (more…)
The unitary patent and double patenting – will the UK allow it?
Today on IPcopy an issue that was raised during the recent consultation relating to the implementation of the Unified Patent Court Agreement and the two unitary patent regulations into UK law – Double Patenting. (more…)
An Important Market: Software Patenting in Japan
Today on IPcopy we have a guest post from Mr. Kenji Sugimura and Ms Rebecca Chen of Sugimura International Patent & Trademark Attorneys on the subject of software patents in Japan. This post appears on the Sugimura website and has been reproduced with the permission of the authors.
Software is one of the most innovative and fastest growing industries in the world, leading corporations to turn increasingly to patents to protect their software-related inventions. Businesses have begun to leverage the value of software-related patents, evidenced by the prolific mobile patent wars and the wave of multibillion dollar patent portfolio acquisitions.
Including Japan in a company’s international patent prosecution strategy is crucial for several reasons. Japan is the third largest economy in the world. Additionally, Japan has the second highest number of registered software-related patents in the world. These registered patents cover a wide range of technologies including embedded software in consumer goods and appliances and developments in vehicle network technology. Japanese companies also rank among the top patent filers.
As the applicability of software inventions continues to broaden, more opportunities are created for inventors to license their patented inventions to these Japanese companies. Given the importance of the Japanese industry and the opportunities within the software-related technology in the global marketplace, it is imperative for companies to develop international patent prosecution strategies with Japan in mind. Specifically, foreign companies should be aware of the similarities and differences in prosecuting software-related patents in Japan and in their home countries. (more…)
Westminster Legal Policy Forum (The Future of Patent Law) – 16 October – Seminar Review
As noted in a recent post IPcopy attended the Westminster Legal Policy Review seminar on 16 October. This post provides a summary of some of the issues raised and discussed at the seminar. For a more detailed review of Neil Feinson’s (IPO) discussion about UPC implementation please see IPcopy’s post here. (more…)
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…)
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