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Sector - IP litigation
Despite potential flaws proposed US patent transparency legislation is worth supporting
Legislation introduced in the US House of Representatives yesterday by Democrat Congressman Ted Deutch aims to greatly increase transparency of patent ownership. The End Anonymous Patents Act would, explained a press release, “require any sales or transfers of patents to be disclosed to the Patent and Trade Office [sic], along with a notice of the real party in interest filing by the purchasing entity. The same disclosure requirements would apply to new patents at the time they ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 18 May 2013 @ 12:51PM
Do not expect Europe's Unified Patent Court to be up and running until 2016 at the earliest
The UK’s ratification of the agreement to create a unified patent court (UPC) for Europe may not be subject to a referendum, but those expecting a quick sign-off from the British government look as if they are going to be disappointed. In fact, it looks as if the UK will not be in a position to ratify the treaty until the second half of 2015, meaning that it is quite possible that the UPC will not actually get underway until 2016. Yesterday, law firm Bristows – which has ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 17 May 2013 @ 7:51AM
Europe's new patent regime - some of the key issues for US-based entities
Last week I posted a story from the US about how law firms in the country are receiving an increasing number of enquiries from clients about how the EU patent and UPC will affect their patent strategies in Europe, and what they should be doing to prepare for their arrival. I also mentioned that senior practitioners at one big firm – Ropes & Gray – had become qualified as English solicitors in order to offer formal advice on the new regime, while others were preparing ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 16 May 2013 @ 12:18PM
The UPC dodges a UK referendum bullet
Last week the British government announced that it is to introduce legislation that will, among other things, “enable the UK to implement the Unitary Patent Court Agreement”. This, you will remember was signed in Brussels in February and mandates the creation of a unitary court system that will hear disputes relating to the EU patent. The press release put out to explain the government’s move stated: “The Court is a central part in introducing a single patent ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 13 May 2013 @ 1:54PM
The EU patent and court offer huge opportunities for US patent litigators and their firms
Those of us in Europe tend to think of the EU patent and unitary patent court (UPC) as European issues; framed, as they have been , in terms of making life simpler and cheaper for applicants and patent owners from the EU, especially SMEs (though whether that will actually be the case, of course, is an entirely different matter). However, the reality is that what is being formulated will, in fact, have a major global impact and will represent the most significant change to the ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 10 May 2013 @ 1:26PM
FRAND is a two way street - both sides in a negotiation have to want to play ball
It’s no surprise that the European Commission has today issued a preliminary opinion that in seeking and enforcing an injunction “against Apple in Germany on the basis of its mobile phone standard-essential patents ("SEPs")” Motorola Mobility was potentially abusing a dominant position. Whatever it says, the Commission’s competition regulator has shown time and again that it has a deep distrust of patents and will always look for ways in which their ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 06 May 2013 @ 5:07PM
It's worth remembering that Google did not buy the Moto patents to generate licensing royalties
That Google received a pretty hefty setback earlier this week in the Motorola FRAND case against Microsoft is not in doubt. But it’s also worth remembering, I think, that Google did not buy Moto in order to generate licensing royalties. Instead, it did the deal as part of an effort to kick-start the development of what was a pretty anaemic patent portfolio in the wake of its failure to secure the Nortel patents; and it wanted the bulk Moto’s patents provided so that it ...
Posted by Joff Wild, IAM Magazine on 27 April 2013 @ 7:35PM
Now that it has been defeated on FRAND, Google must find other ways to leverage SEPs
A Seattle district court hearing a standards-essential patent (SEP) dispute between Microsoft and Google-owned Motorola Mobility has set a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licence fee for Moto’s SEPs relating to the H.264 video codec and IEEE 802.11 wifi standards. The royalty rates fixed by the court are expected to provide a framework for deciding upon FRAND licence fees in future SEP disputes. But while the court’s decision may present a setback for ...
Posted by Jack Ellis, IAM Magazine on 26 April 2013 @ 12:48PM
China’s crucial struggle to raise patent quality
According to the latest report from China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), it granted 217,000 invention patents in 2012, which is a 26% increase on the year before. But as this blog and a recent report from the European Chamber of Commerce in China have previously conveyed, the quality of the patents being issued by SIPO remains a big challenge in China. The Chamber of Commerce study indicates that while patent filings will continue to grow, patent quality will ...
Posted by Seher Hussain, IAM Magazine on 23 April 2013 @ 11:21AM
Ramifications of the Myriad gene patent case could reach far beyond medical diagnostics
The US Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments in Association for Molecular Pathology v Myriad Genetics. The case, which concerns the patentability of human genetic material, could have serious implications for innovators in the biotechnology industry and their ability to secure investment – and patent owners in other sectors should also pay close attention to the outcome. Back in May 2009 the Public Patent Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit ...
Posted by Jack Ellis, IAM Magazine on 18 April 2013 @ 2:45PM
