In its decision of 22 April*, the UK High Court (Mr Justice Arnold) has dismissed Nestec’s** claims that Dualit has infringed EP (UK) 2 103 236 (“the patent”) by supplying its own branded “NX Café Caps” coffee capsules which are compatible with Nestec’s Nespresso coffee machines, thus paving the way for new entrants into the Nespresso coffee capsule market. The patent was also found invalid for, amongst other grounds, lacking novelty over prior uses of Nespresso machines in field tests and at a convention.

The decision is noteworthy because it considers in detail the law of indirect infringement and for the first time in the UK the correct approach to the requirement of “a mea [...]

On 12 April 2013, Mr Justice Arnold gave judgment in the English High Court in Resolution Chemicals Limited v H Lundbeck A/S ([2013] EWHC 739 (Pat)). Resolution (a generic supplier company) sought revocation of Lundbeck’s SPC/GB02/049 (the “SPC”) for escitalopram, alleging invalidity of the basic patent EP (UK) 0 347 066 (“the 066 patent”). Although readers of this blog will be familiar with recent escitalopram litigation – a quick recap of the background facts:

escitalopram is the (+) enantiomer of citalopram (an anti-depressant drug of the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor type, first synthesised by Lundbeck in the early 1970s). Lundbeck then devised the method for synthe [...]

In our post on 30 October 2012 we referred to forthcoming appeals dealing with how the question of obviousness should be tackled by the English courts. The Court of Appeal has now given its verdict in several judgments. The latest decision in Regeneron v Genentech dealt not only with the question of obviousness but also questions of novelty and sufficiency, construction and infringement. The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of Mr Justice Floyd at first instance* in the English Patents Court that Genentech’s patent was valid and infringed.

A brief summary of the facts: Regeneron and Bayer applied to revoke Genentech’s EP (UK) 1 238 986 (the “986 patent”) which discloses and cla [...]

As previously reported on this blog, the new Unified Patent Court (UPC) will bring the biggest change in the patent litigation landscape Europe has ever seen. It will soon be possible to obtain a single court decision effective across the whole of a market worth around €10 trillion. The UPC will have jurisdiction over not only the new breed of Unitary Patents, but also traditional European Patents, whether already granted, or to be granted in the future. This short piece reports the latest developments in the implementation of this new regime in Europe:

• On 19 February 2013, the agreement to create the Unified
Patent Court was finally signed by 24 of the current 27 states – all except S [...]

As has been well publicised, the end of 2012 was a time of considerable progress in the long history of the Unitary patent and Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) dossier, culminating in adoption of the Unitary Patent Regulation 1257/2012 and its accompanying Language Regulation 1260/2012. But what next? Built into the Unitary Patent Regulation is a triggering clause dependent on the UPC coming into existence. Hence, the next major event will be the signature of the treaty to create the UPC – 19 February 2013 is the scheduled date. However, it was reported on 24 January in Rzeczpospolita, one of Poland’s leading newspapers, that representatives of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of F [...]

Hearings in the UK’s highest Court concerning patents are rare. In fact, since the Supreme Court was established in place of the House of Lords in October 2009, there has only been one substantive decision namely the Eli Lilly v Human Genome Sciences case.

Last week the Supreme Court heard its second patents case, Schütz v Werit in relation to technology which could not be further from human genetics. The hearing was broadcast over live television although one suspects the viewing figures will not challenge Eastenders or Coronation Street. Schütz’s patent in suit related to Intermediate Bulk Containers or “IBCs” which are essentially large plastic bottles in steel cages which are u [...]