Archive - February 2023

As the drive towards renewable energy use gains pace, there has been an increase in global patent filings relating to battery technology. While lithium-ion batteries currently dominate the battery market, they have several disadvantages. For instance, the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries requires large quantities of energy and water to extract raw materials.1 The high demand […]

When Aldi launched a festive gin bottle with a snow globe effect in a light up bottle few could help but draw comparison with the very similar M&S product launched a year earlier. The visual similarity and the price differential between the M&S version and the Aldi version were out of the playbook that is […]

The start date for the Unified Patent Court (UPC)  is now confirmed as 1 June 2023. German ratification of the UPC Agreement occurred today on 17 February 2023. The UPC will allow companies and inventors to enforce their patents in 17 EU countries in a single court action. The court coming into operation will also complete […]

The European Commission and the European Union Intellectual Property Office have announced a €60.1 million fund to support EU-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in protecting their intellectual property rights. The “Ideas Powered for business SME Fund” is a grant scheme which will run from 23 January 2023 to 8 December 2023.  The fund will […]

In 2019, the European Patent Office’s (EPO) Guidelines for Examination were updated to remove the “purposive selection” requirement when assessing the novelty of sub-ranges. This meant it was no longer necessary for an applicant to demonstrate that the selected sub-range was associated with a particular technical effect. This recent decision from the Board of Appeal […]

In a recent decision, T 1473/19, the Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) revoked a patent for added matter due to the lack of a single comma in the claims. Patent attorneys are often accused of pedantry when it comes to word selection and grammar. This case is a prime example of […]