News

A Formstein Defence in the UK: A Way to Fight Off Equivalents?

The decision of the Supreme Court in Actavis UK Ltd v Eli Lilly and Company [2017] UKSC 48 has resulted in a sea change for the law of patent infringement in the United Kingdom. In that decision, the Supreme Court introduced an essentially new two-step test for assessing infringement; where the first step requires a normal interpretation of the claims and the second step takes due account of equivalents. Since this decision, UK patent practitioners have been keen to obtain some valuable insight into how the UK courts are going to approach patent infringement in the future.

Welcoming new trainees to the team

Supreme Court Decision confirms pregabalin invalidity

The Supreme Court has recently published its decision in the case of Warmer-Lambert Company LLCC v Generics (UK) Ltd t/a Mylan and another.

A Fresh Approach: An IP Professional's Journey

A day in the life of a patent attorney.

Update on the patentability of plants

An EPO Board of Appeal has found that Article 53(b) EPC prevails over Rule 28(2) EPC as introduced by the Administrative Council of the EPO last year. Thus, the Board of Appeal found that plants exclusively obtained by essentially biological processes are in principle patentable at the EPO.

VentureFest North East - 14 November 2018, St James' Park, Newcastle

IFIB 2018 International Forum on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioeconomy, Turin

Updates to the guidelines for examination of computer-implemented inventions in Europe

Article 52(2) of the EPC lists a number of inventions exempt from patentability including i) scientific theories and mathematical methods, ii) aesthetic creations, iii) schemes, rules or methods for performing mental acts or computer programs, and iv) presentations of information. As a result, computer-implemented inventions (CII’s) can be exempt from patentability since computers inherently include subject matter exempt from patentability under Article 52(2).

Gilead loses High Court battle to defend Truvada® SPC

The English High Court yesterday published its decision relating to the validity of a Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) (SPC/GB05/041). The SPC is owned by Gilead and covers a composition containing two active ingredients, tenofovir disoproxil in the form of the fumerate and emtricitabine, which are both reverse transcriptase inhibitors.