Start-ups/spin-outs
Will Unitary Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) follow the introduction of the Unitary Patent (UP) and the Unified Patent Court (UPC)?
SPCs are national rights that apply to certain pharmaceutical and plant protection products that have been authorized for use by the regulatory authorities. Will they follow the introduction of the UP/UPC?
Can you patent digital assistant technology?
In this article, we look at a patent application for virtual assistant technology, and provide advice on whether this sort of software-based innovation is patentable.
Delaying grant of a European Patent to obtain a Unitary Patent
With 1 October 2022 being the possible start date of the Unitary Patent system, applicants achieving allowance of their European patent applications in the coming months may wish to delay grant so as to obtain a Unitary Patent (UP).
CRISPR: Broad Institute win latest patent battle
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard (‘Broad’) have won the latest round in the ongoing battle over patents relating to the gene editing technology, CRISPR.
The Unitary Patent
The UP will, for the first time, offer patent proprietors the option to have a single patent covering multiple EU member states (17 at the time of writing, likely to be more in the future). As an alternative, the current “classical” validation route in different states will continue.
G02/21: what are the implications for opposition proceedings right now?
It appears that the EPO will stay proceedings in cases where the assessment of inventive step is exclusively reliant on whether post-published evidence can be taken into consideration.
