EU
On the point of re-examination of SPC term #1
By Louise Jonshammar | Posted on October 23, 2017
Reflections on the Swedish Appeal Court’s reasoning regarding Article 17.2 of the SPC Regulation As previously addressed in a Newsflash from Awapatent, the Swedish Patent and Market Appeal Court handed down several decisions on 4 October, 2017, in appeal cases regarding re-examination of SPC. Requests for re-examination, or appeals to granted SPCs, have been lodged...
New trademark legislation determines the conditions for creative brands
By Angela Boman | Posted on October 20, 2017
As of 1 October 2017, new rules for registration of EU trademarks apply. One significant change is the abolishment of the requirement of graphic representation of EU trademarks. In an EU application, the trademark reproduction in any suitable form using publicly available technology will be accepted as long as the EU trademark can be reproduced...
Tags: EU, graphical, IP, law, Legislation, Trademark, trademarks
Fourteen countries have now ratified the UPC
By AWA | Posted on September 5, 2017
Despite the uncertain situation in the UK and Germany, other EU member states seem to continue to ratify the UPC agreement. The latest states to join those who have already ratified are Estonia and Lithuania, of which both deposited their instruments for ratification during August. The complete list can be found here. Before the new...
The (trade) secret of success
By AWA | Posted on April 8, 2014
We have all heard of success stories such as the Coca-Cola recipe and the Google search algorithm. Many companies value their trade secrets and consider them important for competitiveness and innovative performance. Although the general understanding is that trade secrets are good for business, there seem to be many incorrect assumptions about their legal protection....
Tags: EU, trade secrets
Counterfeit Goods in the EU – Troubling News but No Surprise
By AWA | Posted on August 14, 2012
On July 24, the European Commission published a press release concerning its report on seizure of counterfeit goods during 2011 in the EU (see the full report). It turns out that seizure of suspected counterfeit goods increased some 15 % compared to 2010. Top categories are medicines (24 %), packaging material (21 %) and cigarettes...
Tags: china, counterfeits, EU, Infringement, IP rights, Piracy, Trademark
EU patent to pave Europe’s way out of crisis
By Vibeke Warberg Rohde | Posted on October 13, 2011
On 12 October 2011 the European Commission presented a so-called “Roadmap for stability and growth” outlining the response that they believe is needed to get Europe out of the current economic crisis. The roadmap includes five areas of action, four of which relate to financial and economic issues, including of course the problems currently encountered...
Supplementary protection for combination products heading for setback at the CJ of the EU
By Niklas Mattsson | Posted on July 14, 2011
Supplementary protection for combination products heading for setback at the Court of Justice of the EU On 13 July 2011, the opinion of the Advocate General (AG) was released in the consolidated cases C-322/10 and C-422/10, “Medeva” and “Georgetown” respectively, concerning supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) for combination vaccines. In her opinion, the AG recommends the...
Tags: CJ, EU, Medication, SPC
A Favourite in Trademark Law: Repackaging – now gassy
By AWA | Posted on April 14, 2011
Danish courts are traditionally reluctant to ask preliminary questions on the interpretation of EU-legislation. Recently, the Supreme Court has done so, and quite comprehensively. During the 1990’s there were countless cases all over Europe regarding repackaging of products, especially medicines and printer toner cartridges, after parallel imports from one state to another. This case is a new...
A brighter future for the EU patent
By Anders Heebøll-Nielsen | Posted on December 13, 2010
A brighter future for the EU patent 11 EU member states have decided to move towards an EU patent under an enhanced cooperation aiming to reduce costs of patenting in the EU. Progress towards implementation of the long desired EU patent has until now been hindered by disagreements between the EU member states regarding translation...
Supplementary protection certificates for plant protection products
By AWA | Posted on November 15, 2010
11 November 2010 the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a preliminary ruling in the case C-229/09 that Supplementary protection certificates for plant protection products may validly be obtained based on provisional marketing authorisations In this recent decision by the Court of Justice (CJ) it was ruled that a supplementary protection certificate (SPC)...
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