4. Introduction to European Patent Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 99-119
Author(s):  
Justine Pila ◽  
Paul L.C. Torremans
Keyword(s):  
Patent Protection ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
Patent System ◽  
European Patent ◽  
European Law ◽  
European Patent Convention ◽  
Unified Patent Court ◽  
Unitary Patent

This chapter introduces the European law of patents and related rights with a discussion of the nature of patents as limited-term monopoly rights granted in respect of new, inventive, and industrially applicable inventions and the routes to obtaining patent protection in Europe. It then considers the existing European patent system established by the European Patent Convention 1973/2000, including its basis in state-based conceptions of IP territoriality, and the challenges presented to that system by globalization and developing technology. And finally, it discusses the long-standing pursuit of a unitary patent and unified patent court for Europe, including the reasons for each, and the features of the proposed Unitary Patent Package of 2012/2013.

Growth companies and procedural safeguards in European patent litigation

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krista Rantasaari
Keyword(s):  
Patent Protection ◽  
Patent System ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Court System ◽  
Patent Litigation ◽  
Start Up ◽  
Unified Patent Court ◽  
Procedural Safeguards ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms ◽  
Unitary Patent

The unitary patent system with the establishment of the Unified Patent Court will lead to unitary patent protection covering most European Union countries. Moreover, it will lead to litigation with the same geographical reach. One potential concern related to increasing litigation is the so-called ‘patent trolls’ (non-practicing entities) that purchase patents for the purpose of portfolio building or company financing. One of the key expressed justifications of the unitary patent system was to support small- and medium-sized enterprises by securing them easier and wider access to patents. The aim of this article is to examine procedural safeguards from the perspective of the start-up and growth companies. These safeguards protect start-up and growth companies when acting as defendants. As a corollary, they weaken the enforcement mechanisms from the perspective of the plaintiff. The safeguards addressed in this article are fee shifting, preliminary injunctions, and bifurcation. As the Unified Patent Court system is still evolving, the current state of European patent litigation in key jurisdiction countries (Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands) is analysed. This article explores how these safeguards evolve in the unitary patent regime and their potential to reduce uncertainty for start-up and growth companies when acting as defendants.

14. Key elements of the patent system

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian J. Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Application ◽  
Patent Protection ◽  
Patent System ◽  
European Patent ◽  
European Patent Convention ◽  
General Terms ◽  
System P ◽  
International Patent ◽  
Protection Systems ◽  
Unitary Patent

This chapter considers in general terms the nature and manner of operation of the patent system. Topics discussed include international patent protection systems (Patent Co-operation Treaty, European Patent Convention, the unitary patent, and intellectual property in the GATS and WTO); requirements for patentability (novelty, inventive step, capacity for industrial application); matters excluded from patent protection; patenting software; and the process of obtaining and enforcing a patent.

Unified Patent Protection in Europe: A Commentary

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Patent Protection ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Authoritative Text ◽  
Invaluable Tool ◽  
Unified Patent Court ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Developing Area ◽  
Law Professors ◽  
New System

The creation of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is the most prominent change in the European legal landscape for the last four decades. This book explains how the new system works in practice and how to make the best use of its provisions. It offers readers an in-depth and comprehensive commentary on the legal mechanisms of the upcoming ratified European Patent Law, and advice on potential problems that users of the forthcoming regulations may face. The book first describes the creation of the Unified European Patent Law and how its four new legislative texts interact. The new legislative texts are then explained and commented on in detail, rule by rule, with diverse approaches and perspectives from a practitioner team comprising patent litigators, European patent attorneys, law professors and patent judges. The Commentary takes into account the practical needs of users of the new system on both the prosecution and enforcement sides, addressing substantive and procedural problems. This book is the most authoritative text on the Unitary Patent and Unified Patents Court, and an invaluable tool for practitioners in this rapidly developing area of law.

Historical Developments

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip W. Grubb ◽  
Peter R. Thomsen ◽  
Tom Hoxie ◽  
Gordon Wright
Keyword(s):  
Patent Protection ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
Patent System ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
System P ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
The Uk

This chapter describes historical developments in patent systems and patent law. It highlights key developments in the UK from 1800–2014, in the US from 1790–2014, in other industrialized countries (Germany, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Japan), and in developing countries. The final section discusses international developments such as the Paris Convention, the European Patent Convention, the Unitary Patent system in Europe, the Patent Cooperation Treaty, the TRIPs Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Patent Law Treaty, the London Agreement, and the Substantive Patent Law Treaty. These developments, which have generally acted to strengthen patent protection, did not simply happen of their own accord; political, diplomatic, and industry lobbying activities have played a larger role than any objective analysis of the economic and social benefits of the patent system.

scholarly journals Problematyka wybranych zagadnień jednolitej ochrony patentowej

Radca Prawny ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 191-217
Author(s):  
Tomasz Orfin
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Patent Protection ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
European Patent ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Full Implementation ◽  
Legal Structure ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Unified Patent Court ◽  
Unitary Patent

Problems related to selected issues of unitary patent protection Unitary patent protection is one of the key challenges for the European Union. The current initiatives, which – despite being just a short step away from full implementation due to legal and formal issues, such as the complex legal structure or non-legal claims concerning their negative impact on the economy and competitiveness of enterprises – still raise doubts and uncertainties. The aim of this article is to illustrate the problem of unitary patent protection on selected issues concerning the European patent with unitary effect and the Unified Patent Court. The obstacles that prevent the implementation of the Unified Patent Court are presented. Critical voices assessing the proposed model of unitary patent protection are also presented and discussed.

scholarly journals Advantages and Disadvantages of the Single European Patent / Prednosti in slabosti enotnega evropskega patenta

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-34
Author(s):  
Klara Glazer
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Forum Shopping ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Unified Patent Court ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Unitary Patent ◽  
Reduction Of Costs

Abstract In February 2013, the European Union successfully completed more than 30 years of negotiations and formally signed an agreement establishing a single European patent. The agreement brought about a more competitive patent law compared with that in the United States and Japan. The agreement resulted in a number of advantages, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, such as the reduction of costs by as much as 80%, simplification of procedures, and the adoption of the Unified Patent Court. With the new unitary patent, intellectual property will grow in importance. Yet experts warn that the new patent results in new forms of unwanted behavior, such as forum shopping and the emergence of patent trolls. This study presents both sides-the pros and cons-to predict the effects on business and cover the widest possible range of experts, providing their views on the topic.

scholarly journals United patent court of the EC: organizational and economic-legal basis of functioning

2019 ◽  
pp. 34-43
Author(s):  
H.O. Androshchuk ◽  
L.I. Rabotiahova
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Economic Factor ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Patent Law ◽  
Patent System ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Association Agreement ◽  
Unified Patent Court ◽  
The Eu

The EU’s system for dealing with patent law disputes provides that disputes concerning the same European patent may be considered in parallel in different EU member states. To prevent such shortcomings from adversely affecting the transparency and functioning of the market, it was decided to introduce a Unified Patent Court in the EU patent system. The required package of documents (“patent package”) is intended to make the most valuable changes in the legal regulation of the protection and protection of inventions in the EU over the past 40 years. The article discusses the role and place of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) in the EU patent system. The organizational and economic-legal aspects of the creation and operation of a specialized patent court with exclusive jurisdiction for court proceedings related to European and unified EU patents: structure of the court, composition of judges, language of processes are analyzed. financial activities, organizational and procedural provisions, litigation costs and fees. It is emphasized that the economic factor is the key issue of the effective existence of the EU patent system. The experience of creating the Unified Patent Court will be interesting for Ukraine, which has chosen the path to create a specialized court in the field of intellectual property, because approximately one fifth of the Association Agreement with the EU concerns the unification of the legislation of Ukraine and the EU in the field of intellectual property

Mutagenesis, ‘essentially biological processes’ and patent exceptions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-242
Author(s):  
Muriel Lightbourne
Keyword(s):  
Patent Law ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Patent Office ◽  
European Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Living Material ◽  
Council Of State

Recent developments in the field of European law, in relation to subject-matter consisting of living material, raise a string of basic issues as to the legal qualification of certain techniques used in agriculture and medicine, such as CRISPR-Cas9, and regarding their appraisal under European patent law. The present article reviews a series of decisions, including the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in case C-528/16, the decision issued on 7 February 2020 by the French Council of State and the Opinion of the European Patent Office Enlarged Board of Appeal of 14 May 2020 on Referral G 3/19.

Powers of the Court concerning decisions of the European Patent Office

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Kuczera
Keyword(s):  
Patent Protection ◽  
European Patent Office ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Patent Office ◽  
Article 9 ◽  
Unitary Patent

In actions brought under Article 32(1)(i), the Court may exercise any power entrusted on the European Patent Office in accordance with Article 9 of Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012, including the rectification of the Register for unitary patent protection.

Administrative tasks in the framework of the European Patent Organisation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winfried Tilmann
Keyword(s):  
Patent Protection ◽  
European Patent ◽  
Member States ◽  
Administrative Tasks ◽  
Unitary Patent

The EPUE Reg is a ‘special agreement’ within the meaning of Art 142(1) EPC (Recital 6; → Introduction to this Commentary, mn 125–34). The participating Member States, as a ‘group of Contracting States’ to the EPC, may therefore ‘give additional tasks’ to the EPO (Art 143(1) EPC). Art 9(1) EPUE Reg sets out which tasks these are and provides that they are to be given to the EPO. They have been given to the EPO by the Rules relating to Unitary Patent Protection (RUPR) (→ Annex following mn 45).

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