News
IP funding launched for European SMEs
13 February 2023Read more >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 […]
Twist and shout… about sub-ranges
10 February 2023Read more >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 […]
The importance of commas
7 February 2023Read more >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 […]
Is Amazon liable for trade mark infringements committed by third parties?
9 January 2023Read more >ECJ, Judgment of 22.12.2022 – C-148/21, C-184/21 Louboutin’s best-known goods are luxury red-soled women’s shoes. He has registered the red colour of the outer sole as a protected trade mark in the EU, among other countries. Third-party adverts appeared on the online marketplace Amazon for shoes with red soles, which Louboutin says are being marketed […]
UPC opening delayed until 1 June 2023
5 December 2022Read more >The planned start date for the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) has been pushed back by two months to the new date of 1 June 2023. The delay, announced today (5 December 2022), has been given after some users requested more time to get the authentication requirements in place for the new Case Management System (CMS). The […]
Bad faith in filing applications
8 November 2022Read more >Bad faith in filing applications (ECJ 07.09.2022 – T-627/21 – Segimerus/EUIPO [Monsoon]) It is to be considered abusive if an EU trade mark is filed claiming priority according to Art 34 (1) EUTMR and, before the expiry of this six-month period, national trade mark applications were filed in succession every six months, alternately in Germany […]
