Category: International IP
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On 8 October 2011, the Court of Justice of the European Union's (CJEU) handed down a landmark judgment on the correct interpretation of Article 6(2)(c) of the Biotechnology Directive (98/44/EC) relating to the patentability of human embryonic stem cells. The Court of Justice's judgment The decision excludes an invention from patentability where the technical teaching…
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By Craig Humphris & David McCarthy — Australia is attempting to raise its patentability threshold and specification requirements. Significant amendments have been made to Australia's patent laws through enactment of the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2012. Most provisions will take effect from 15 April 2013. The Raising the Bar Act, which…
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Pulling the Pace of Prosecution from the Purview of the Applicant By Daniel Feigelson — Most readers of this blog are familiar with the situation in which you or your client files a patent application before the invention is ready for commercialization, e.g., the chemical process described therein is still being optimized, or FDA approval…
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By Donald Zuhn — Since implementing its first Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) program with the Japan Patent Office (JPO) on July 3, 2006, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had established some thirty PPH programs with more than twenty other patent offices. The USPTO recently increased the number of PPH programs (full or pilot) to…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Again in only the span of a few months, the views of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) have been adopted by Court. Previously, this pattern resulted in a ban on patenting human embryonic stem cells (see "European Court of Justice Renders Stem Cell Decision"). Last…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — Last year, the Australian Senate rejected a call for banning patents on human genes in Australia. This result came after almost a decade of debate, resulting in several Reports (including the 2011 ACIP Report on Patentable Subject Matter, the Senate Gene Patents Report, issued November 24, 2010, and the 2004…
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By Kevin E. Noonan — On Monday, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Ronald Kirk, issued the 2012 Special 301 Report. According to the USTR website, the Report "reflects the Administration's resolve to encourage and maintain effective IPR protection and enforcement worldwide." This effort is "more significant than ever in light of recent U.S. Government data…
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In March 2011, we reported on an EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) decision on two cases involving the patentability of plant breeding processes (see "The Enlarged Board of Appeal Discusses What Makes An Invention Patentable"). In a unique turn of events, the Technical Board of Appeal (TBA) hearing one of the cases has referred…
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By Donald Zuhn — Earlier this year, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) announced that International patent filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) were back on the rise following the 2007-09 recession (see "PCT and EP Filings on the Rise Again"). In particular, WIPO noted that filings had risen 4.8% from 2009 to 2010. …
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By Kevin E. Noonan — In response to an earlier post on Novartis' challenge to the Indian Patent Office's decision not to grant a patent on its anticancer drug Gleevec® (see "Indian Supreme Court to Rule on Gleevec Patent"), a reader opined that we should appreciate the erudition and wisdom of the patent official in…
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