The UK Supreme Court’s Approach to Standard Essential Patent Protection in Unwired Planet v Huawei — Balancing tensions between patents and standards as well as between global business and national patent systems – an international conundrum

This chapter considers the nature and manner of operation of the patent system. Patents date back to around the 14th century. For the United Kingdom they began as a means to encourage the importation of foreign skills and technology, fell into disrepute as they were used by monarchs to confer monopolies in respect of the sale of well-known objects such as playing cards and eventually from the late seventeenth century settled into their present role of granting temporary monopolies to those who make inventions. The chapter examines the criteria that will be applied in determining whether an invention is eligible for patent protection and the procedures that will required to be followed in order to obtain this. Unlike copyright which applies effectively on a global basis, the patent system has operated on a national basis. A UK patent will be valid and enforceable in the UK but nowhere else. There are international agreements, however, designed to simplify the task of obtaining protection in a range of countries and the operation of these will be considered as well as the treatment of intellectual property within the General Agreement on Trade in Services and the World Trade Organisation. Within the European Union, the possible introduction of a unitary patent has been the subject of discussion for many years and appears likely to come to fruition in the near future although the involvement of the UK post Brexit is uncertain.

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Legal and Economic Justifi cation for Software Protection

Handbook of Research on Open Source Software ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-999-1.ch025 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 328-339

Author(s):

Bruno de Vuyst

Keyword(s):

Reverse Engineering ◽

Open Source ◽

Open Source Software ◽

Patent Protection ◽

Computer Programs ◽

Property Law ◽

Software Protection ◽

National Patent ◽

The U.S

This chapter discusses legal and economic rationale in regards to open source software protection. Software programs are, under TRIPS1, protected by copyright (reference is made to the Berne Convention2). The issue with this protection is that, due to the dichotomy idea/expression that is typical for copyright protection, reverse engineering of software is not excluded, and copyright is hence found to be an insufficient protection. Hence, in the U.S., software makers have increasingly turned to patent protection. In Europe, there is an exclusion of computer programs in Article 52 (2) c) EPC (EPO, 1973), but this exclusion is increasingly narrowed and some call for abandoning the exclusion altogether. A proposal by the European Commission, made in 2002, called for a directive to allow national patent authorities to patent software in a broader way, so as to ensure further against reverse engineering; this proposal, however, was shelved in 2005 over active opposition within and outside the European parliament. In summary, open source software does not fit in any proprietary model; rather, it creates a freedom to operate. Ultimately, there is a need to rethink approaches to property law so as to allow for viable software packaging in both models.

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A Survey of the Principal National Patent Systems

Students Quarterly Journal ◽

10.1049/sqj.1937.0059 ◽

1937 ◽

Vol 8 (29) ◽

pp. 36

Keyword(s):

National Patent ◽

Patent Systems

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The Use of Patents Documentation Information in Teaching, Academic Research and Development of Engineering Projects

Volume 5: Education and Globalization ◽

10.1115/imece2014-38516 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Jeziel Nunes ◽

Marcia Batalha

Keyword(s):

Research And Development ◽

Mechanical Engineering ◽

Patent Protection ◽

Academic Research ◽

Technical Information ◽

Patent System ◽

Patent Systems ◽

Engineering Projects

The present work aims to demonstrate the use of information contained in patent systems for teaching and academic research in mechanical engineering and related fields. The approach proposed herein is focused on academic research and the engineering disciplines to provide a more complete training of students and researchers. In the proposed approach, the Patent System is used in three different ways: As a source of technical information; as a source of inspiration for designing solutions; and for patent protection of academic research and their eventual commercialization. The patent system also enables teachers to keep up with technological trends and check their possible impacts on the training of engineers. The methodology was applied in practice, with results exceeding expectations.

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