Withers & Rogers

IP News in general

  • The introduction of new generic top-level domain names will require increased vigilance from brand owners | 10th January, 2012

    From 12 January to 12 April 2012 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will be accepting applications for new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs). more...

  • Is your IP deal-ready? | 20th December, 2011

    A number of factors have contributed to a growing trend for private business owners to consider selling all or part of their companies, whether it is financial difficulties, the need to off-load non-core assets or for reasons of succession.   more...

  • Government announcement of IP support for SMEs | 9th December, 2011

    Commenting on a Government announcement about plans to provide a package of IP support to SMEs, Karl Barnfather, partner and patent attorney at Withers & Rogers, said: more...

  • Patent Box regime is now even better news for R&D-led businesses | 7th December, 2011

    The draft legislation set out for the Patent Box today will be welcomed by all businesses that invest in innovation, not least small and medium-sized businesses, which may not have been convinced of the benefits of patent protection in the past. more...

  • The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia joins the London Agreement | 30th November, 2011

    Further to our recent news item regarding Finland joining the London Agreement (see http://www.withersrogers.com/news/209/112), the EPO has announced that the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has also signed up.  This will help to reduce transla...more...

  • Finland joins London Agreement on translation requirements for European patents | 18th September, 2011

    Finland has become the latest European Patent Convention-contracting state to accede to the London Agreement.  From 1 November 2011, it will no longer be necessary to file a full translation of a European patent specification into Finnish after t...more...

  • America Invents Act To Be Signed Into Law 16 September 2011 | 14th September, 2011

    Speaking at the Intellectual Property Owners Association Conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday 13 September, Robert L. Stoll, Commissioner for Patents at the United States Patent and Trade Mark Office, confirmed that President Obama would sign the Americ...more...

  • European Patents with Unitary Effect | 13th April, 2011

    Following recent news http://www.withersrogers.com/news/192/112 on the launch of “enhanced cooperation” for the creation of a unitary patent within the European Union, the European Commission has promptly issued a proposal for how this co...more...

  • Unitary Patent for the European Union | 25th March, 2011

    The European Council has authorised the launch of “enhanced cooperation” on the creation of a unitary patent within the European Union. more...

  • Patent Box gets the green light and there is more good news for innovators | 24th March, 2011

    Dave Croston, partner and manufacturing sector specialist at the firm, said: more...

  • European Patent Office Sees 10% Rise In Patent Applications For 2010 | 16th February, 2011

    The European Patent Office (EPO) has reported receiving 232,000 European patent filings in 2010, 10% up on the 2009 figure (211,000). 39% of these filings originated from the 38 member states of the European Patent Organisation, 26% from the US, 18% fro...more...

  • New EPO Rules require provision of search results | 13th December, 2010

    As of 1 January 2011 new Rules come into force which will require certain search results to be submitted to the European Patent Office (EPO) in respect of certain European patent applications. In particular, where a European patent application claims one ...more...

  • Tax Breaks for Patents! | 7th December, 2010

    The Government’s decision to move ahead with plans to introduce a tax incentive for research and development activity in the UK from 2013 is encouraging news for British industry. more...

  • Hungary accedes to London agreement on translation requirements for European Patents | 27th October, 2010

    As expected Hungary has acceded to the London Agreement removing the requirement for a translation into Hungarian of the whole patent specification after grant of a European patent. Sixteen countries have now given effect to the London Agreement. This mov...more...

  • Online fakes are dangerous | 20th September, 2010

    Trading Standards are reporting a rise in the number of copycat websites selling fake branded goods online. Consumer Direct has reported that calls about counterfeits rose to 2801 in the 12 months to August 2010, up from 1958 in the previous year. more...

  • Britain signs copyright agreement with China | 7th September, 2010

    Britain and China have signed an agreement on copyright that will see the two countries seek clarification and coordination on copyright issues. more...

  • ECJ ruling in 'smell alike' case is victory for brand owners - Court of Appeal reluctantly follows ECJ guidance | 24th August, 2010

    The UK Court of Appeal has reluctantly confirmed the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union (formerly the ECJ) in the case of L’Oreal and Bellure.   The ECJ’s decision was issued in 2009 and answered questions originally referred to ...more...

  • Emergency Budget Report | 22nd June, 2010

    In today’s emergency budget report by George Osborne, a number of measures were announced to promote new business enterprises and start-ups which aim to encourage regional growth and employment.  more...

  • Re-packaged measures will do little to promote innovation | 24th March, 2010

    In today’s budget report by Alistair Darling, a number of measures were announced to support small to medium-sized enterprises aiming to promote innovation in the UK.  more...

  • Lower rate corporation tax to foster innovation | 9th December, 2009

    In today's pre-budget report by Alistair Darling, it was announced that the government will introduce 10% corporation tax on profits derived from patents in the UK.  more...

  • Patent Prosecution Highway Developments | 24th November, 2009

    Two important developments which aim to address the backlogs of unexamined patent applications at the US, Japanese and European Patent Offices have just been announced. more...

  • China's new patent law is good news for global innovators. | 22nd October, 2009

    A change to China's intellectual property laws, due to take effect on 1st October 2009, will position the communist nation as a great place to innovate and a safe trading ground for global innovators, according to patent experts at Withers & Rog...more...

  • Double patenting at the EPO | 1st August, 2009

    In a recent decision (T307/03) issued by a Technical Board of Appeal (TBA) of the European Patent Office (EPO) it was indicated that a ‘double patenting’ objection can be raised where the subject matter of a granted claim falls within the su...more...

  • Hungary and Lithuania sign up to the London Agreement | 16th June, 2009

    Hungary and Lithuania have recently acceded to the London Agreement. Entry into force in Hungary is expected on 1 January 2011. more...

  • Petitions to the EPO EBA, is the provision working? | 20th May, 2009

    In December 2007 a series of amendments were made to the European Patent Convention. These included the introduction of a provision allowing a party adversely affected at Appeal to petition for the referral of a case to the Enlarged Board of Appeal. ...more...

  • Extension of European Patent Office Online Filing System to cover Opposition, Appeal and Review Proceedings | 24th March, 2009

    We have been successfully using the European Patent Office’s online filing system for filing documents in the EPO during patent prosecution for some time. The system provides a high level of certainty and security to patent filing procedures. Client...more...

  • Awards for Employee Inventions | 5th December, 2008

    Inventor awards scheme are widely recognised as useful in ensuring the engagement of engineers and developers with your innovation strategy. more...

  • More traffic expected on the Patent Prosecution Highway | 3rd November, 2008

    Prosecuting patents in Japan and the USA has been made quicker and easier for UK applicants now that the scope of the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) Patent Prosecution Highway scheme (as initially reported in our news item in March 2007) has b...more...

  • Cost reduction for European patents: Presentation | 6th September, 2008

    Cost reduction for European patents: Presentation on the effects of the London Agreement on European patent translation costs more...

  • EPO Increases Strictness of Examination of Sequence Listings | 31st May, 2008

    Biotechnology Practice Note Historically, EPO Examiners have exercised some discretion when examining sequence listing for compliance with WIPO standard ST.25 (the international standard for sequence listings). However, the EPO is receiving increasing...more...

  • EPO Opposition and Appeal Practice Update | 30th April, 2008

    Nearly 3000 European patents were opposed in 2006 according to the latest information from the European Patent Office, reflecting the commercial significance of European patents. We have a significant opposition and appeal practice. The EPO has recently...more...

  • China's National IP strategy how far will it go? | 4th February, 2008

    The National People’s Congress (NPC) of China is expected to publish details of its new National IP Strategy later this year and some experts believe this could position the thriving communist nation as the best place to innovate. more...

  • London Agreement to Enter into Force on 1 May 2008 | 1st February, 2008

    As we have previously reported (see our earlier article) the London Agreement will significantly reduce patenting costs in Europe by reducing the post-grant translational requirements in many European countries. more...

  • EPO Shakes Up Fee Regime | 1st January, 2008

    The EPO recently flagged forthcoming changes to the fee regime for European Patent Applications but what do the changes mean for the practitioner and patent applicant? more...

  • EPC 2000 | 1st December, 2007

    December 2007 marked the introduction of a new piece of legislation created by the European Patent Organisation known as EPC 2000.  The implications are quite wide ranging and have some beneficial cost and timing implications along with greater fle...more...

  • Ill-tidings from the EPO | 1st December, 2007

    The European Patent Office has chosen the start of the Christmas holidays to announce wide ranging changes their official fees. The changes will come into force in both April 2008 and April 2009. more...

  • Unity Of Invention in European Regional Phase Applications | 13th November, 2007

    Important change under EPC 2000 - Impact on prosecution strategy for PCT applications The revised European Patent Convention (EPC 2000) enters into force on 13 December 2007. From that date, the European Patent Office (EPO) will no longer issue com...more...

  • London Agreement: Major Reduction in European Patent Costs on track for 2008 | 18th October, 2007

    Last week a bill was passed by the French Senate so that France can now, finally, ratify the London Agreement. It is now expected that the London Agreement will enter into force around Europe in 2008 - perhaps as early as April.  We are pleased to ...more...

  • USPTO publishes significant changes to rules governing patent prosecution | 31st August, 2007

    On 21 August 2007 the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a set of rule amendments. The amendments are intended to streamline the prosecution process for patent applications and come into force on 1 November 2007*. The amendments m...more...

  • EPO's Enlarged Board Restores | 4th July, 2007

    New decisions of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) have restored the previous practice of the European Patent Office (EPO) regarding divisional applications. Decisions G1/05 and G1/06 confirm that divisional applications may be amended after filing ...more...

  • US Supreme Court Teleflexes Its Muscles | 30th April, 2007

    In a major decision on patentability on 30 April 2007, the Supreme Court swept away 25 years of Federal Circuit doctrine in assessing whether patented inventions are obvious. more...

  • New Patent Pilot Scheme - UK and Japan | 1st March, 2007

    The recent Gowers Review recommended, amongst other things, that the The UK Patent Office should pursue work sharing arrangements with Japan to reduce cross-national duplication of effort. Within only a few months after publication of the review, the...more...

  • Free Transfer of Priority Documents | 16th January, 2007

    On 16th January 2007, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) initiated a new programme to exchange patent application priority documents electronically between the two offices, following an agreement b...more...

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The University of Warwick logo Ederyn Williams, Director, Warwick Ventures