Insights

With the coronavirus pandemic affecting billions of people and millions of businesses around the world throughout 2020 and 2021, there can scarcely have been a more important time for scientific innovation in the race to understand, treat and protect people from the virus. In late spring 2021, we sent a survey to our clients looking at how intellectual property (IP) intensive firms have responded and adapted to the global COVID-19 pandemic throughout 2020, into 2021 and beyond.  This report is based on the responses we received, which highlighted the resilience of innovative and IP intensive businesses during the pandemic, and their bright future.

A Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) is a form of intellectual property that can extend the protection of patented active ingredients present in pharmaceutical or plant protection products by up to five years.

On 14 November 2018 the UK Supreme Court (SC) handed down its decision in Warner-Lambert Company LLC v Generics (UK) Ltd t/a Mylan and Actavis, which includes a majority judgment and interesting dissenting ones.

European patent law differs in some significant aspects from the law in other countries, in particular the United States. This note sets out some important features of European patent law to remember when preparing patent applications for Europe.

If you have identified an interesting opportunity for a research or development collaboration and are discussing a potential agreement, then Intellectual Property (IP) is one of the key factors that will need your consideration. This article provides clear, practical guidance on how to approach the key IP issues that can arise before, during and after such collaborations.

European patent law differs in some significant aspects from the law in others countries, in particular the United States. Our briefing note on “European Practice for Overseas Attorneys” discusses some more general issues to bear in mind when drafting. This note provides some more detailed tips on drafting European patent applications so that some common problems can be avoided.

Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) are a form of patent term extension.

Can we apply for patent protection for our new app?

We’re about to launch a unique software product that correlates the weather observations from multiple satellites. It’s a niche market and we’re confident that there’s no other program that interleaves the data as quickly or efficiently as the algorithms that we’ve developed. The results can be downloaded and displayed via a smart phone app.

The examination procedure in European patent applications is primarily conducted in writing. However, all applicants have the right to be heard in Oral Proceedings. This can be a very useful procedure if the progress made in written correspondence is unsatisfactory. This briefing note provides an overview of such Oral Proceedings.

The responsibility for examining European patent applications rests with an Examining Division. Once the Examining Division is satisfied that an application complies with all the requirements of the European Patent Convention (EPC), the applicant is notified of the intention of the European Patent Office (EPO) to grant a patent.