The doctrine of equivalents is a staple patent law principle, addressing the tension between providing fair protection to innovative ideas and ensuring legal certainty for third parties. However, like most patent laws, the...more
12/18/2024
/ Appeals ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Doctrine of Equivalents ,
EU ,
European Patent Convention ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
The Hague ,
Unified Patent Court ,
Unified Patent System
The European Patent Office ("EPO") currently requires applicants to adapt descriptions to allowable claims. This practice is risky, expensive, and not clearly grounded in the law....more
The European Patent Office ("EPO") has committed to specific timelines for its new practice of accelerating opposition proceedings....more
The European Parliament has adopted an amended European Commission proposal to regulate plants engineered using techniques such as CRISPR/Cas and ban any patenting of plants, plant parts, material, genetic information, or...more
2/20/2024
/ Biotechnology ,
CRISPR ,
European Commission ,
European Parliament ,
European Patent Convention ,
GMO ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Life Sciences ,
New Regulations ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Plant Based Products ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Reform
The EPO confirmed that a European patent application can be refused on the basis of double patenting under Articles 97(2) and 125 EPC, if a patent with the same effective date has already been granted for the same subject...more
The Situation: A recent decision by the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office confirmed that a 2011 ruling dealing with disclosed disclaimers does not overrule its 2004 decision applying to undisclosed...more
In December, we reported that the European Commission ("Commission") had issued an Interpretive Notice (2016/C 411/03) stating products produced by essentially biological processes should not be patentable. The notice came as...more
7/17/2017
/ Biologics ,
Biotechnology ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Patent Convention ,
European Patent Office ,
Genetically Engineered Animals ,
Patent Applications ,
Patent-Eligible Subject Matter ,
Patents ,
Plant Patents ,
Product Exclusivity ,
Subject Matter Conflicts ,
The Enlarged Board of Appeals
Beginning in 2009, the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office ("EPO") issued a series of decisions that essentially created a new priority law in Europe that allowed members of the same patent family to negate each...more
3/16/2017
/ EU ,
European Patent Convention ,
European Patent Office ,
Novelty ,
Paris Convention ,
Patent Portfolios ,
Patents ,
Priority Date Cutoff ,
Priority Patent Claims ,
Subject Matter Conflicts ,
The Enlarged Board of Appeals