Patent Law Weblog
Category: International IP
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By Donald Zuhn — Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released data on 2014 international application filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). WIPO noted that U.S. and Japanese filings accounted for almost half (48.5%) of all PCT filings last year, with total filings coming in at just under 215,000, a 4.5% increase…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Shrouded in secrecy and spawning more than its share of dystopian conspiracy theories, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty — being negotiated by the U.S. and eleven foreign governments (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam) — is, like many such treaties, intended to reduce…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The President of the EPO and the Minister of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy of Morocco announced on January 19th that Morocco would permit EP applications and granted EP patents to be validated in that country beginning on March 1, 2015. Upon request from an applicant, Morocco will…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The disconnect between patents and medicine (and more particularly, between physicians who prescribe patented drugs and the pharmaceutical companies who produce them) was illustrated nicely in a recent dustup between doctors working for the National Health Service in the UK and innovator drug company Pfizer over its patented Lyrica® drug…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Last Thursday, the European Court of Justice rendered a decision in International Stem Cell (ISCO) Corporation v. Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks (UK) that significantly modified the landscape for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) patenting, by holding that prohibitions against patents on hESCs only apply to such cells…
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By Ralph Cox* & Kinjal Kondhia** — After a series of papers, reports and consultations on the scope of the research exemptions to patent infringement stretching over 10 years, section 60 of the Patents Act 1977 was finally amended on 1 October 2014 by the introduction of new subsections 6D to 6G. These subsections clarify the…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — The Generic Pharmaceutical Association (GPhA) issued a statement today regarding ongoing talks between major Pacific Rim countries (including the U.S.) related to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. This trade agreement, whose terms have not been disclosed but have been the subject of leaks by WikiLeaks and others, has been controversial…
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By Claire Gregg* and Martin O'Brien** — The Full Federal Court of Australia has handed down its long awaited decision in D'Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc today, affirming that isolated DNA and RNA are patentable subject matter under Australian law. The first instance decision of Nicholas J was appealed to the Full Federal Court on…
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By Ralph Cox* and Simon Spink** — Overview For the best part of 10 years, since the judgment of Lord Hoffmann in Kirin-Amgen v Hoescht Marion Roussel[1], it has been widely assumed that there is no file wrapper estoppel in the UK and no doctrine of equivalents either. Both these assumptions are thrown into doubt…
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By Shelley Rowland* and Katherine Hebditch** — After a protracted gestation period, the New Zealand's Patents Act 2013 will take full effect on 13 September 2014. The new Act represents the first major refresh of New Zealand's patent legislation in 60 years, and brings New Zealand patent law into line with most other countries around…
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