The Unified Patent Court provides more information on the start of the 2nd Sunrise Practice Period from February 13 until February 24, 2023 The Unified Patent Court announces the following: “The Unified Patent Court invites external users to practice the CMS Sunrise functionalities starting from 13 February, for a period of 2 weeks, until 24 February 2023. The Unified Patent Court invites external users to practice the CMS Sunrise functionalities starting from 13 February, for a period of 2 weeks, until 24 February 2023. “All tests will be carried out in the CMS test environment. This environm ..read more

Advanced Bionics Benelux B.V. v. Med-El Elektomedizinische Geräte GmbH, Disctrict Court The Hague, The Netherlands, 18 January 2023, Case no. ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2023:212 Declaration of non infringement. Advanced Bionics and Med-El are companies in the hearing technology industry that develop, manufacture, and distribute implantable hearing systems, including cochlear implant systems. Med-El holds a patent (EP605) which Advanced Bionics has opposed and was upheld in an amended form on appeal. In Germany, Advanced Bionics was ruled to be infringing, but in the United Kingdom, the patent was found to ..read more

The EPLAW Board announces with pleasure that the Young EPLAW Congress takes place in Brussels on 17 April 2023 with the usual live format. There will also be an informal evening reception organized on the evening of 16 April. The Young EPLAW Congress is for lawyer associates of current EPLAW members, who are on track to become members of EPLAW in the future. We ask EPLAW Members to kindly inform their young associates about this event and save the date. As usual, a registration link will be sent in a few weeks to current EPLAW Members who will be asked to forward it to their eli ..read more

Past EPLAW President and Honorary member Pierre Véron announces that the 2023 version of his trilingual (DE/EN/FR) booklet (420 pages) comprising the Unitary Patent Regulations, the Unified Patent Court Agreement and the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court as adopted in July-August 2022 by the UPC’s Administrative Committee is now available. Two versions can be downloaded from this page of his website: – A version for review on-screen with user-friendly navigation aids – A printable version with standard navigation aids Mr. Véron is planning on making the booklets also availabl ..read more

‘A Practitioner’s Guide to the Unified Patent Court and Unitary Patent’, is the recently published book authored by Paul England, Taylor Wessing Paul England: “The book aims to provide practical and detailed advice on all aspects of the system for those using it. The book explains how the UPC system works in the context of the wider European patent system, including the UK, and how parties can use it to enforce or revoke European patents and the Unitary Patent, in particular: – The procedures of the UPC from initiating proceedings to appeal, damages and costs hearings; – Rules on competence, s ..read more

Introduction With Decision of 29 November 2021, the Court of Milan addressed the issue of the admissibility under Italian law of claims limitation of a granted patent in preliminary injunction (“PI”) proceedings. The relevant provision is Article 79 of the Italian Intellectual Property Code (“IPC”), pursuant to which a patent can be limited in three ways: by filing a request for patent limitation with the Italian Patent Office (“IPO”) (para. 1); during invalidity proceedings (para. 3); and (for European patents) following the limitation procedure provided for by the EPC (para. 3-bis). Summary ..read more

The slides of the EPLAW Annual Congres 2022 are available here and on the EPLAW website under the header Past Congress ..read more

A joint statement on the UPC website by Klaus Grabinski, President of the UPC Court of Appeal, and Johannes Karcher, Acting Chairman of the Administrative Committee of the UPC, announces the delay of the start of the UPC to 1 June 2023 From the statement: “The start of the Sunrise Period is postponed for two months. The initial roadmap foresaw 1 January 2023 as the beginning of the Sunrise Period with an entry into force of the UPCA on 1 April 2023. The additional time is intended to allow future users to prepare themselves for the strong authentication which will be required to access the Cas ..read more

Pharmathen Global B.V. v. Novartis A.G., Court of Appeal The Hague, The Netherlands, 15 November 2022, Case no. ECLI:NL:GHDHA:2022:2327 Novartis is the holder of – inter alia – European patent EP 2 377 519 B1  entitled ‘Pharmaceutical Composition Comprising Octreotide Microparticles’ Novartis markets an injectable Long Acting Release (hereinafter also: ‘LAR’) product containing octreotide under the name Sandostatin LAR. Octreotide is similar to the body’s own hormone somatostatin and it blocks the production of many types of hormones. Octreotide is prescribed in the treatment of various c ..read more

The EPO announced that it has published a new trilogy of EPO webinars that outline the Unified Patent Court’s structure and procedures, as well as the timeline for its introduction. Recorded earlier this year in English, the webinars feature UPC experts Kevin Mooney, Klaus Grabinski and Pierre Véron. The webinars and lots of other information regarding the UPC can be accessed here ..read more