News: Uncategorized

Apple and Samsung end patent disputes outside of the United States

By AWA Editor | Posted on September 5, 2014

Apple and Samsung recently agreed to withdraw all pending patent and registered design disputes between their companies in all countries except the United States. This includes disputes in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan and South Korea. Before the summer, Apple entered into a similar agreement with competitor Google/Motorola, in which...

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European patents can be validated in Tunisia

By AWA Editor | Posted on August 25, 2014

The European Patent Office (EPO) has signed an agreement with Tunisia under the terms of which the North African country recognises the validity of European patents. The agreement means that an applicant filing for a European patent can also opt for validation in Tunisia, despite the fact that the country is not an EPO member...

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Belgium and Denmark ratifies patent agreement

By AWA Editor | Posted on July 4, 2014

The governments of Belgium and Denmark have ratified the agreement on a Unified Patent Court. This means that in total five member states (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France and Sweden) are ready to adopt the ‘patent package’, which comprises the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court. In order for the new court to become operational,...

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Swedish patents in English from 1 July

By AWA Editor | Posted on June 18, 2014

In practice, this means that an applicant who wishes that notices, decisions during the case handling and other official documents shall be in English, and who wants to reply to notices and in general write to PRV in English, may do so without having to translate the documents at any point. For informative purpose only,...

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Sweden has ratified the Unified Patent Court

By AWA Editor | Posted on June 12, 2014

The Swedish parliament recently approved a government proposal for a unitary patent protection in the EU. This means that Sweden, following Austria and France, ratifies the agreement on a Unified Patent Court. In order for the new court to become operational, another ten countries (including Great Britain and Germany) must complete the process of ratification...

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Danes say yes to the Unified Patent Court

By AWA Editor | Posted on May 27, 2014

The clear support to the European Unified Patent Court is remarkable. The last referendum in Denmark was 14 year ago in 2000 on the implementation of the EURO, and the majority voted no. The referendum on the UPC was held on 25 May 2014, the same day as the election to the European Parliament and...

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Swedes nominated for European innovation prize

By AWA Editor | Posted on May 23, 2014

Swedish innovators is behind two out of fifteen nominations for the European Innovator Award, which is presented by the European Patent office (EPO). Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin are nominated in the class Small and medium-sized enterprises for their inflatable bike hemet. Ericsson-engineers Stefan Parkvall, Erik Dahlman, Muhammad Kazmi, Robert Baldemair, George Jöngren, Henning Wiemann,...

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Samsung filed the most European patent applications

By AWA Editor | Posted on April 9, 2014

Demand for patent protection in Europe continues to grow, with more applications being filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) than ever – 266,000 in 2013, up from 258,000 in 2012. Applications came from countries around the world, led by the US (24% of the total), Japan (20%) and Germany (12%). As in the previous...

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Graphical user interfaces can be protected in China

By AWA Editor | Posted on March 26, 2014

From May 1, graphical user interfaces (GUI) will become eligible for design patent protection in China, following a revision of the examination guidelines by the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO). However, designs which are unrelated to human-machine interaction or product function, such as wallpaper on an electronic screen, will remain unprotected under the revised examination...

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