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The EPC recognises three main grounds for opposition (Article 100 EPC): (1) that the invention is not patentable (for example, not novel or inventive); (2) that the invention is not sufficiently disclosed; and (3) that subject-matter has been added.

All countries of the Gulf are civil law countries with the code typically exhaustively covering the complete system of the law. This being said, the first-to-file concept is given considerable weight. Despite the fact that some GCC countries may offer a limited amount of common law rights, enforcement is relative and solely determined by the practitioner handling the case.

The Portuguese PTMO has published on its website a notice concerning a change in the proceedings related to the transfer of ownership of supplementary protection certificates (SPCs).

If an allegedly patent infringing product does not literally use a certain feature of a patent claim, but uses a surrogate means, according to German Patent Law, the product can still be sued for infringement under the doctrine of equivalence.

On March 15 1989, the Department of Health (DOH) issued Administrative Order Number 67 series of 1989 entitled Revised Rules and Regulations on Registration of Pharmaceutical Products. This required drug manufacturers to register certain drug and medicine products with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before release to the public, and to submit satisfactory bioavailability/bioequivalence (BA/BE) test results to secure a certificate of product registration (CPR). This requirement, however, was put on hold because there was no local facility capable of conducting the test. In 1997, the FDA issued Circulars Numbers 1 and 8 resuming the implementation of the requirement for the BA/BE testing.

Ruth Burstall and Iona Silverman review two design cases that cast some light on issues such as the scope of protection and the overall impression on the informed user, but argue that many questions remain unanswered

In light of the UK government’s recent announcement that it intends to introduce regulations to provide for plain packaging, Katharine Stephens, Toby Bond, Manon Rieger-Jansen and Graham Maher take stock of the policy’s impact in Australia and the legal challenges it has faced

Last year, in the Schütz v Werit case, the UK Supreme Court clarified when replacing a consumable part of a larger patented article constitutes patent infringement. Mark Marfé, Sabine Boos, Camille Pecnard, Riccardo Fruscalzo and Rik Zagers examine how the issue has been addressed in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and France

What are the best practices for a trade mark team during an M&A process?

Singapore is introducing many new initiatives to develop the IP industry as it matures towards being an IP hub in the ASEAN region. One such example is a new cost-effective procedure which provides parties to contentious administrative proceedings before the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) an expert determination option with effect from April 1 2014.