Posts Tagged: "European Patent Organization"

Brexit Q&A: What Now and What Next?

Brexit has been postponed and will not now happen at midnight on March 29, 2019.The UK’s House of Commons has twice voted against the Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration, which were agreed between the UK Government and the European Union in November 2018. It is not clear at this stage whether Members of Parliament (MPs) will support the Agreement if and when it is put before them again. The UK Government updated its guidance on IP and Brexit on March 22 2019.The most important point for IP rights holders is that on Brexit day, whenever that is, unitary EU rights (notably EU trademarks and registered Community designs) will cease to cover the UK, unless there is an agreement to the contrary.

James Nurton

March 27, 2019

The To DO List for the Unitary Patent Package

The sunrise period for opting out traditional European patents is planned to start on 1 September 2017. Since such opt-outs will now be done electronically through the UPC case management system, it will take less than a minute to opt out a patent and the opt-out will be on the register immediately… For pending patent applications that are close to grant, the applicants need to decide whether they want to apply for unitary effect and take the necessary preparations, including a request to the EPO not to publish the mention of the grant of the patent prior to 1 December 2017 and filing a request for unitary effect with the EPO during the sunrise period.

Wouter Pors

March 13, 2017

European Patent Office grants more patents to US companies than ever before

The number of patents granted to US companies by the European Patent Office (EPO) grew by 46.7% in 2016, the highest increase in ten years, and a new record high. Last year US companies were granted 21,939 patents by the EPO (2015: 14,955).

Press Releases

March 7, 2017

Could or should the USPTO adopt the EPO problem-and-solution approach for assessing obviousness?

There is a plausible case that the US law on obviousness is indeed compatible with the EPO problem-and-solution approach. It could even be said that the steps of the problem-and-solution approach appear to have been inspired by US law and practice! Under present working styles, USPTO examiners concentrate on the claims and spend little or no time reading the description. If they are to initiate obviousness rejections using the problem-and-solution format they would have to change habits and consult the description to locate any effects related to the distinguishing features.

Brian Cronin

January 12, 2017

Record year in 2015 for EPO patent filings on big increases from U.S., Chinese companies

The European Patent Office (EPO) announced earlier today that the overall number of European patent applications filed at the EPO rose in 2015 to 160,000. This represents an increase of 4.8% compared with 2014, when the EPO saw a record high 153,000 patent applications filed… Many within the U.S. patent industry are openly talking about protection being better, fairer and more attainable in Europe, and Europe is rapidly becoming a preferred venue for litigating patent disputes. With the unitary patent and European Patent Court on the horizon, the continued self-inflicted wounds being leveled against the patent system in America makes it all but certain that the EPO will continue to experience ever more filings moving forward.

Gene Quinn

March 3, 2016

The Unified European Patent: What it Means for International Enterprises Seeking Protection on the Continent

On February 19, 24 members of the 27 European Union signed a unified patent court agreement in Brussels, Belgium. Bulgaria is expected to sign once it completes internal administrative procedures, but because the single patent will only need to be in English, German or French, only the countries of Poland and Spain have so far refused to join in the effort.

Michael V. Sneddon

March 7, 2013