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The language of proceedings used before the EPO can never be changed

By AWA | Posted on February 18, 2010

The language of proceedings used before the EPO can never be changed – this includes the language used before the international receiving office if that language is English, French or German The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) has for the second time this week issued a decision. This latest decision, G...

Tags: English, EPO, French, German, PCT

Is the era of cascading divisionals coming to an end?

By AWA | Posted on October 6, 2009

Filing a divisional used to be a common procedure before oral proceedings as well as before grant of a patent. But for European applications this possibility has now been drastically restricted, and  new rules concerning divisionals (rule 36 EPC) will be in place from April 1, 2010. Until recently there were considerable uncertainties regarding the application...

Tags: divisionals, european applications, Patent

Changes to the German Intellectual Property Laws

By AWA | Posted on September 24, 2009

A series of changes to the German intellectual property laws was recently passed by the German parliament. The reforms enter into force on 1 October 2009. Of greatest importance are the changes to the patent law regarding patent invalidity proceedings. The changes aim at speeding up the process by limiting the possibility of making changes...

Tags: fee, filing, german intellectual property, patent application

Centocor (Johnson & Johnson) awarded the largest patent verdict in U.S. history

By AWA | Posted on July 6, 2009

1.67 billion U.S. dollars, $1.16 billion in lost profit, and $504 million in royalties. That’s what Centocor is awarded in damages for infringement of their patents. On Monday, June 29, a jury found that Abbott Laboratories had willfully infringed two patents covering antibodies against tumor necrosis factor owned by Centocor. Abbott’s drug Humira was found...

Tags: Infringement, Patent, verdict

What are the consequences of the decision from the Federal Circuit on the new USPTO regulations?

By AWA | Posted on April 7, 2009

In August 2007 the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a rules package intended to limit the number of patent claims in a single patent application to 25 (including a maximum of 5 independent claims) and also to restrict the possibility of filing what are known as “continuation applications”. The main aim of...

Tags: federal circuit, patent application, patent claims, uspto regulations

EPO’s fight against divisional applications

By AWA | Posted on February 10, 2009

EPO is seeking to limit the submission of divisional applications, which would be a severe blow to small, newly started technical companies in particular. Although a stop was put to their latest proposal by the Committee on Patent Law, it is highly likely that despite this setback we will see a modified version put before...

Tags: EPC, EPO, Patent

Swedish Court of Patent Appeals remits cases to the Swedish Patent Office for further prosecution

By AWA | Posted on January 28, 2009

Background OMX Technology AB, who i.a. owns and runs the Stockholm Stock Exchange, filed Swedish patent application 0201756-4 on 10 June 2002 which subsequently was refused 12 March 2004 on the basis of lacking technical character and thereby being considered not to be regarded as an invention in accordance with 1 § PL, i.e. the...

Recent contributors

Laura Stravinskaite

Laura Stravinskaite

Senior Associate, Attorney at Law

Ai-Leen Lim

Ai-Leen Lim

Partner, Attorney at Law, Group Vice President

Ashley Zhao

Ashley Zhao

Partner, Attorney at Law, Business Area Manager

Troels Peter Rørdam

Troels Peter Rørdam

Senior Counsel, European Patent Attorney

Mikkel Roed Trier

Mikkel Roed Trier

Partner, European Patent Attorney, UPC Representative, Business Area Manager