Evidence is a key battleground in virtually all patent litigation cases. As a Court designed to combine the best and most efficient features of the main EU national patent litigation systems, the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”)...more
6/30/2025
/ Data Preservation ,
Dawn Raids ,
Discovery ,
Duty to Preserve ,
EU ,
Evidence ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Legal Technology ,
Patent Infringement ,
Patent Litigation ,
Patents ,
Unified Patent Court
This publication summarizes noteworthy 2024 legal developments in trade secret law in key centers of commerce throughout the world. Understanding these legislative and judicial developments can help trade secret owners...more
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
In a November 12, 2024, decision, the Court of Appeal ("CoA") of the Unified Patent Court ("UPC") has clarified under which circumstances a European patent that has been opted out and has been the subject of legal proceedings...more
The Unified Patent Court ("UPC") and the unitary patent—which came into force in June 2023—were created at the request of European industry in order to benefit from a single title (the unitary patent) covering the territory...more
In France, unlike for instance in the United States or United Kingdom, the scope of attorneyclient privilege is restricted to attorneys-at-law registered with a bar and acting independently (within an independent law firm or...more
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
While the genus antibody claim was effectively killed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Amgen v. Sanofi, it lives on in Europe despite a few recent setbacks at the European Patent Office ("EPO") and the Unified Patent Court...more
On February 28, 2024, following the European Commission's four 2023 proposals, the European Parliament adopted a legislative resolution on the amended proposal to create a Unitary Supplementary Protection Certificate ("USPC")...more
The European Patent Office ("EPO") has committed to specific timelines for its new practice of accelerating opposition proceedings....more
The UPC, a single patent court for European Union Member States, has published the first statistics on its case load since its establishment in 2023. Between June 1, 2023, and January 31, 2024, a total of 196 cases were filed...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 redistribution of competences to the Munich, Paris, and Milan central chambers takes shape and brings complexity for chemistry patents....more
Trade secret audits can help companies of any size stay competitive. Jones Day Intellectual Property Partner Thomas Bouvet explains how challenging a company's existing protections with enhanced mapping, audit of relevant...more
In Short -
The Situation: With the introduction of the Unified Patent Court ("UPC") system in Europe, the co-ownership of patents will have material effect on patents with unitary effect ("Unitary Patent")....more
In Short -
The Situation: While the national case laws of most Unified Patent Court ("UPC") Member States generally accept infringement actions by licensees, the scope and requirements of such actions differ greatly. The...more
Judges were recruited from across Europe and appointed in accordance with the decisions of the UPC Administrative Committee. The UPC will be led by German Federal Court of Justice Judge Klaus Grabinski as president of the...more
The creation of a new European Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) and a new patent with unitary effect (“Unitary Patent”), in which almost all member states of the European Union participate, is the most important change in the...more
The previously contemplated fee for opting out of "classical" European patents from the Unified Patent Court ("UPC") system has been abolished by the UPC Preparatory Committee. The UPC Case Management System will also allow...more
A trade secret is any information used in one’s business that derives independent economic value from being kept secret. Unlike patents, trade secrets are protected indefinitely for as long as they remain a secret. In the...more
8/19/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Competition ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Confidential Information ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
Pleading Standards ,
Proprietary Information ,
SCOTUS ,
Trade Secrets ,
Van Buren v United States
Paris-based Jones Day partner Thomas Bouvet talks about the challenges involved in gathering evidence and the most difficult aspects of trade secret litigation in France. He also discusses the remedies available to wronged...more
Jones Day partners Dr. Christian Paul, Steve Zadravecz, Thomas Bouvet, and Andrea Weiss Jeffries explain what companies that rely on business-critical trade secrets should understand about effectively litigating trade...more
The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office has decided that the exclusion from patentability of essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals now also extends to plant or animal...more
The Situation: Provisions of the Action Plan for the Growth and Transformation of Enterprises Act ("PACTE Act") concerning the newly created provisional patent application and the strengthening of the utility certificate are...more
The Background: The Action Plan for the Growth and Transformation of Enterprises Act ("PACTE Act") adopted on April 11, 2019 and promulgated on May 23, 2019, brings three important changes aimed at strengthening French...more