EPO Decision

In patent law, the concept of “prior art” or “state of the art” describes the universe of information which existed and was made available to the public by means of a written or oral description, by…

T 1913/21 has received attention for nicely illustrating the difference between process claims and second non-medical use claims —a category of claims shaped by landmark Enlarged Board decisions G 2…

In less than 15 days, the Enlarged Board of Appeals (“EBA”) handed down two major decisions in relation to patent validity: (i) one relating to claim construction when assessing the patentability of…

 G 1/24 has now been issued, and concludes “The description and any drawings are always referred to when interpreting the claims, and not just in the case of unclarity or ambiguity.” With this simple…

Defining antibodies by functional features is not always straightforward at the EPO. T326/22 is a nice example of how this can be achieved.       To briefly recap the standard EPO approach, an…

One critical factor in developing generative AI is access to a large amount of well-structured data. As such, the EPO is sitting on a goldmine when it comes to AI tools for patent law. I was…

The festive period normally leads to a slight slow-down in work in Europe and as such, it can provide the opportunity to catch up on wider reading as well as to grab a little rest.  In between the…

UPC 252/2023 NanoString v Harvard ACT_551180/2023 (UPC_CFI_252/2023) The UPC’s Munich Central Division has recently issued its decision revoking Harvard’s EP 2794928 B1 (“the Patent”) in DE, NL, and…

The recently released judgment in J1/24 (relating to EP 3660979B1), from the Legal Board of Appeal at the European Patent Office (EPO) is a divisive judgment, which could potentially have far…