On 12 February I posted the first of two notes on the forthcoming joint FRAND trial arising out of actions between IPCom and Nokia (Claim No: HC 10 C01233) and HTC and IPCom (Claim HC 11 C02064), both in relation to IPCom’s European Patent EP 1,841,268 (the ‘268). In the first posting I concentrated on the IPCom v Nokia action and how the potential of a FRAND trial arose. In this second posting I explain how this became a joint trial with the HTC action and then set out the further progress of both matters towards a final hearing on this important issue.
The relationship between the HTC/IPCom case and the Nokia/IPCom case is summed up in a judgement of Mr Justice Roth of 31 May 2012. [...]
FRAND licensing terms (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) and their impact upon electronics and telecommunications patent litigation is fast becoming a hot topic amongst the patent blogs. One case that has so far slipped under the radar of many commentators is the forthcoming Nokia/HTC/IPCom FRAND trial before the High Court of England and Wales. The trial, according to one judgment of Mr Justice Floyd (6 December 2012) “is going to have to examine for the first time, so far as I am aware, the methodology which it is appropriate to adopt to arrive at a licence which is fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (“FRAND”) in respect of a patent which is essential to a telecommunicat [...]
In ruling on an application to transfer a passing off and trade mark infringement action from the Patents County Court (PCC) to the High Court, HHJ Birss QC has provided further useful guidance for prospective litigants on use of the PCC as the chosen forum for intellectual property (IP) litigation.
The Claimant, Comic Enterprises Limited, is the owner of UK registered trade mark “the Glee CLUB” in class 25 (for various items of clothing) and class 41 (including entertainment services, production and presentation of television programmes). In September 2011, the Claimant issued proceedings in the PCC against Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation over Fox’s use of the mark GLEE in con [...]
Multiple rulings of the CJEU on the SPC Regulation fail to answer questions posed by the national courts, result in greater confusion and give rise to a need for yet more references.
Introduction
In Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd v Medimmune Ltd & Anor [2012] EWHC 181, Mr Justice Arnold was required to apply the recent decisions and reasoned opinions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in the Medeva, Georgetown, Yeda, Daiichi and Queensland references. The application of these references was in the context of the validity of Medimmune’s UK SPC for ranibizumab (SPC/GB09/053). The key question for the judge was whether ranibizumab was protected by a basic patent with [...]
