Excl: Counsel hopeful of EPO quality deal despite latest stalemate
The latest meeting between the EPO and industry critics ended without agreement but the atmosphere was much friendlier than in previous encounters, insider sources told Managing IP.
Members of the Industry Patent Quality Charter met with Steve Rowan, the EPO’s vice president of patent-granting processes, on Monday, May 8.
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Bayer’s China IP head toasts record patent win amid pharma troubles
China isn’t the easiest jurisdiction to navigate for foreign intellectual property owners.
But Alex Liu, Bayer’s chief IP counsel in China, has picked up a trick or two having worked as a patent attorney in the country for more than 20 years.
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Clarity needed after latest VICO decision: counsel
Another fight surrounding the position on videoconferencing at the EPO Boards of Appeal seems inevitable after the latest ruling on the issue, according to practitioners.
A BoA decision, published on Tuesday, May 9 but originally issued on April 25, found that in-person hearings were still the “gold standard” and parties could only be forced to use VICO in “very limited” conditions.
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Other articles published by Managing IP this week include:
Weekly take: US Copyright Office’s latest AI ruling misses the mark
True colours: how bracelets will help fundraise at INTA
Up in smoke: US cannabis TM rejection shows need for caution
Collision course: how to navigate IP and marketing clashes
Sheeran win won't kill similar copyright claims: counsel
Elsewhere in IP
Gilead’s $1bn escape
Gilead’s HIV antivirals Truvada and Descovy did not infringe US government-owned patents, a Delaware federal jury found on Tuesday, May 9. The government sued Gilead over its failure to compensate government scientists for their patents related to HIV prevention. The government had sought up to $1 billion in damages.
Judge’s warning
A deputy judge at the England and Wales High Court warnedparties to be upfront about how long patent cases are likely to take on Wednesday, May 10. Campbell Forsyth made the remarks in a judgment dealing with two procedural applications in a patent dispute between Safestand and Weston Homes.
The two applications were originally estimated to take two and a half hours, but the hearing lasted a full day.
“It is important for parties to liaise and update the court if, as matters develop, the time the court requires to read into and hear a matter is considerably longer than originally anticipated and listed,” Forsyth wrote.
Enforcement head
President Joe Biden nominated intellectual property lawyer Deborah Robinson as IP Enforcement Coordinator on Monday, May 8. Robinson is head of IP enforcement at Paramount Global.
The International IP Alliance, a coalition of trade associations representing the creative industries, welcomed the nomination. “Given her vast experience and expertise on both domestic and foreign IP issues and in global enforcement, she is uniquely qualified to lead the important work of coordinating the US government’s effort to combat copyright infringement around the world,” a group statement said.
Bonfire out
The UK government has ditched its plan to let thousands of EU laws, including swathes of intellectual property law, expire at the end of this year. The move was confirmed by Kemi Badenoch, secretary of state for business and trade, on Wednesday, May 10.
The government’s original plan would have automatically removed EU-derived laws from the statute book unless they were replaced or specifically earmarked for retention. Instead, the government will focus on 600 EU-derived laws it wants to replace by the end of the year.
UPC nears
Government officials and judges from the Netherlands gathered in The Hague to open the city’s local division of the Unified Patent Court on Wednesday, May 10. Rian Kalden, who will serve as the UPC’s second most senior judge, was among those in attendance.
The UPC officially opens on June 1.
Reveal your secrets
Tangibly, a trade secret management platform, announced an early access programme for its new Patent X-Ray tool on Monday, May 8. The artificial intelligence-powered tool is designed to help teams identify undocumented trade secrets from their patents.
Users can put a US patent number into the tool, which then suggests trade secrets.
Attorneys at DLA Piper in the US and Italy have been piloting the technology.
