by Nicholas Round On 19 April 2016 Birss J handed down a short but notable judgment in the matter of EMGS v PGS. Following a three-week trial in March 2016 the parties had decided to settle the matter before receiving judgment. However, the purpose of Birss J’s judgment was not particularly to comment on this,…
By Jill (Yijun) Ge and Benjamin Bai We discussed when an IP owner might become an IP abuser previously (http://kluwerpatentblog.com/2016/03/08/crossing-the-rubicon-when-does-ip-owner-become-ip-abuser/). For standard essential patent (“SEP”) holders, one lingering question is whether they can still seek and enforce injunctions. Some take the view that the act of seeking injunctive relief is inherently inconsistent with an SEP…
European patent attorneys should make a joint effort and gather data to assess the impact of procedural issues on opposition procedures at the European Patent Office and, in the future, on decisions of the Unified Patent Court. Michael Wallinger, partner of law firm WRST, proposed this at the annual meeting of the European Patent Litigators…
Europe is preparing for the launch of the new Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court (UPC). A provisional phase for the UPC is expected to start later this year, with a view to a full start of the system in the spring of 2017. In a series of articles, Kluwer IP Law explains the…
On 1st April 2016 the National Human Right Commission (NHRC) called on the Indian government to submit reports on the allegations that the Indian government had given private assurances to the US that India would adopt a stringent approach when granting compulsory licences over patented drugs. While the Ministry of Commerce & Industry in a…
by Rachel Mumby It would be an unusual case in which the parties did not criticise each other’s experts in one way or another, and indeed patent litigators in England and Wales have become no stranger to judicial criticism of the way that experts are instructed. However, in the case of American Science & Engineering…
A district court properly denied a plaintiff attorney fees after it had accepted an offer of judgment to settle claims for damages and equitable relief, the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City has held (Steiner v. Lewmar, Inc., March 7, 2016, Chin, D.). An award of costs was proper. A full summary of…
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board did not err in affirming a patent examiner’s obviousness rejection of 23 claims of a Hubbell patent titled “Convertible electrical device cover and method for installing same,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled (In re Hubbell Inc., April 7, 2016, per curiam). The court…
Arbitration courts (which have mandatory jurisdiction over certain patent disputes regarding generic drugs) have the authority to issue a compulsory fine for not complying with a court order, provided that there is a present or imminent non-compliance with the ordered obligation (‘non facere’). A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP…
Arbitration courts have competence to declare the invalidity of an allegedly infringed patent where the question is raised as an incidental defence. The decision only has inter partes effects. A full summary of this case has been published on Kluwer IP Law.
