Understanding Patent Applications and Methods for Best Approaches in Europe and the U.S.
In a recent decision the Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) has for the first time addressed the use of AI to support arguments on claim interpretation, in this case deciding that ChatGPT cannot be used as a...more
UPC case law on the assessment of inventive step is still evolving. Most local division (LD) decisions have indicated a slightly diverging practice from the EPO’s problem-solution approach. However, more recently, others have...more
With nearly 800 cases adjudicated or pending thus far at the Unified Patent Court (UPC), a possible procedural gap has appeared in the European patent system: no clear legal mechanism currently exists to resolve conflicting...more
The Background: There has been a growing trend to invalidate European patents by challenging their formal priority and using intervening prior art. The Technical Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office ("EPO") referred...more
G1/23 – EPO Enlarged Board of Appeals of the EPO “available” (referral from T 0438/19) - Under which circumstances can the public prior use of a product constitute prior art for novelty or inventive step[s], specifically...more
While many patiently await developments in the pending U.S. interference proceedings relating to the CRISPR patents in the U.S., matters are progressing in Europe. The Opposition Division (OD) of the European Patent Office...more
The Guidelines for Examination in the European Patent Office (EPO) permit the use of post-filing experimental data in a limited manner to support the scope of objected claims. However, reliance on post-filing data differs...more
Both the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Japanese Patent Office (JPO) accept a third party observation regarding validity of a patent application. In February 2012, it was announced that third party observations could be...more
A Survey of Third Party Observation Systems - Third party observations can be a cost-effective way of introducing prior art or arguments related to patentability of a published patent application. The September 2018 issue...more
In the case of Jushi Group v OCV [2018] EWCA Civ 1416, the Court of Appeal has considered the question of the relevant test to apply when assessing whether a prior disclosure of numerical ranges will anticipate a later claim...more
The Decision: The French Cour de cassation, in a case concerning a dosage regime patent, recently clarified the "plausibility" requirement, an element of sufficiency of disclosure or inventive step. The Result: The wording...more
Life science and other high technology companies most frequently file patent applications in five IP offices (IP5), namely: the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the European Patent Office (EPO), the Japanese...more
A valid priority claim can allow a patent application to benefit from the filing date of an earlier patent application so as to exclude certain prior art from consideration. The recent decision of the U.S. Federal Circuit in...more