A new decision by the German Federal Court of Justice (X ZR 112/13 - Teilreflektierende Folie) provides another illustrative example of the FCJ's fairly generous and applicant-friendly case law on…
The strict formalistic approach adopted by the EPO on many issues can easily lead to the applicant being trapped between various requirements of the EPC. One particularly well-known problem is the…
In September of 2013, the Spanish Patents and Trademarks Office ("SPTO") published a draft Patents Act aimed at modernising the old Act 11/1986, of 20 March, on Patents, which is close to celebrating…
One area where the practice of the EPO and the German Federal Court of Justice (FCJ) could not be further apart was the assessment of added matter. While the FCJ traditionally had been very lenient…
Thanks to Miquel Montaña’s brilliant Christmas post, we have learnt a lot about the lucina sine (aut cum) concubitu and the legal impact her involvement may have had for the application of Directive…
Under the principle of the prohibition of reformatio in peius, the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office are forbidden from taking a decision which puts a sole appellant in opposition appeal…
Rarely are questions referred to the EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal so fundamental for everyday practice as those referred by Board 3.2.08 in decision T 373/12 of 2 April 2014. The Enlarged Board is…
In Medeva (C-322/10 of 24 November 2011) the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) had ruled that a Supplementary Protection Certificate relating to a combination of active ingredients can…
The main principles applicable for assessing whether a non-disclosed disclaimer meets the requirements of Article 123(2) EPC have been laid out in the decision G 1/03 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal …
