News

Earlier this year, the European Patent Office (EPO) published a decision allowing a petition for review (see R4/17), bringing the grand total of allowed petitions to eight, out of a total of 151 filed. As is evident from this small total, the petitioner rarely triumphs. In brief, a petition for review is a formal request […]

One of the requirements for obtaining SPC protection for a product is that the product must be subject to a marketing authorisation and the product must also be “protected” by a patent.  The CJEU ruled that the meaning of “protected” is narrower than simply infringing the claim, without saying where exactly the boundary between protected […]

Following a Decision of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation (found here), it is now possible to pay the third year renewal fee for European patent (EP) applications up to six months in advance of the due date. Previously, with regard to all renewal fees due for an EP application, it was only […]

In June 2017, the European Patent Office (EPO) announced a freeze on inflation-based official fee increases for 2018. Instead, the EPO will selectively adjust certain official fees, effective from 1 April 2018. These fee adjustments, summarised below, relate to the handling of PCT applications, online filings and appeal fees. International (PCT) applications where the EPO […]

Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) is an interdisciplinary field of computer science with the goal of enabling machines to behave and reason in an intelligent manner.  Early approaches to AI centred on rule-based systems.  Such systems were configured to operate within highly constrained environments where the behaviour of the AI system was specified beforehand using formal […]

The UK has now ratified the Hague Agreement for the International Registration of Industrial Designs.  This means that from 13 June 2018 the UK can be designated in new international design applications under the Hague system. International design applications allow applicants to submit a single design application to the International Bureau of the World Intellectual […]