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  29.09.2023

  International

  EP Case Law in Brief: Erroneous Disclosures

  “Mistakes in a document do not in themselves constitute prior art such as to prevent the grant of a patent.”So begins section I.C. 4.9 of the Case Law of the Boards of Appeal. This statement, and the accompanying case law, provides for the possibility of a ‘get out of jail free card’ for novelty objections in certain circumstances.An invention is "considered to be new if it does not form part of the state of the art". The "state of the art" is defined as "everything made available to the public by means of a written or oral description, by use, or in any other way, before...

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  05.09.2023

  Allemagne

  Current German case law on the term “climate neutral” (klimaneutral) and related claims, such as “en­vi­ron­men­tally neutral” (umweltneutral)

  Climate neutral – or not? The delicate use of the term “climate neutral” in advertising.In ongoing debates in society, business, politics and science around the – extremely relevant – topic of climate protection, the term “climate neutrality”, among other things, is referred to on a regular basis. In the future everything should, where possible, – or at least according to the wishes and ideas of politicians – be carried out, produced, offered and disposed of in a climate neutral way.On the legislative side, ambitious targets are being set in...

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  15.08.2023

  Europe

  AI in healthcare inventions – technical or not technical?

  SummaryRecent European Patent Office (EPO) Board of Appeal case T 1910/20 sits among a number of decisions regarding the discussion of what constitutes technical character in the field of healthcare. In this case, building a therapy plan, which should not be confused with practising a method of therapy on the human body, was held to be “a purely intellectual exercise”. Physiological measurements (glucose data signals from a patient), did not make the claimed mathematical algorithm have a technical effect.  This case is of further interest since the Board felt it necessary to comment...

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  28.07.2023

  Europe

  Description amendments at the EPO – uncertainty for not (too) much longer? Possible EBA referral in T0056/21

  Amending the description to conform with the claims remains a challenging element of European patent practice, particularly in view of the divergent case law in the subject, and varied approaches taken by individual examiners during the examination of European patent applications. We previously discussed this controversial topic in March 2023, following the Annual Review of 2022 decisions of the Boards of Appeal.Now, following a recent communication from Board of Appeal 3.3.04 in T0056/21, it is possible that applicants and patent attorneys alike might receive some long-awaited clarity on this...

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  09.06.2023

  United Kingdom

  EU Commission proposes a new licensing framework for standard essential patents

  The European Commission published on 27 April 2023 various proposals for legislative changes related to patents. One of these concerns the introduction of a new licensing framework for standard essential patents (“SEPs”), aimed at tackling perceived failings under the current regime for SEP licensing. The proposed framework includes measures to introduce a register of SEPs and including essentiality checks to tackle the problem of over-declaration of SEPs. It will also require both SEP holders and prospective licensees (“implementers”), prior to initiating legal proceedings,...

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  08.06.2023

  Asia-Pacific

  APAC IP Update – Spring/Summer 2023

  ChinaChina releases Work Plan for Systematically Addressing Malicious Trade mark Registrations to Promote High-quality Development (2023-2025)On 20 April 2023, the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) issued the Work Plan for Systematically Addressing Malicious Trade mark Registrations to Promote High-quality Development (2023-2025) (the Work Plan). The main objective of the Work Plan is to make significant progress in the management of malicious trade mark registrations by 2025 and further improve the management system and policies related to malicious trade mark registrations....

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