Baylis urges change in patent law – BBC News
“One of Britain’s best-known inventors is urging a change in the law to strengthen protection against those who try to steal ideas.”
BBC News, 1st September 2009
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: patents
Plan to slash patent litigation costs would boost access to justice, say authors – OUT-LAW.com
“A plan to cut the cost of litigating over patent infringements by a factor of ten has been submitted to a review of litigation costs in England and Wales. The plan proposes cutting the cost of action from between £500,000 and £1 million to £50,000.”
OUT-LAW.com, 4th August 2009
Source: www.out-law.com
A web page can be prior art without its authenticity being proved ‘up to the hilt’ – OUT-LAW.com
“An online news story that described a bank’s method for authenticating website visitors was valid evidence of prior art, the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO) has ruled. The date on the web page could be taken at face value, it said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 7th July 2009
Source: www.out-law.com
Aerotel Ltd v Wavecrest Group Enterprises Ltd and others – WLR Daily
Aerotel Ltd v Wavecrest Group Enterprises Ltd and others [2009] EWCA Civ 408; [2009] WLR (D) 171
“A patentee seeking to rely on commercial success as an indicator of non-obviousness in order to rebut an allegation of its patent being obvious over prior art had to establish that the commercial success relied on was due to his invention and not to other market factors. Where a number of other factors might have explained the success, unless he could show they were irrelevant or largely so, he would not have proved what he needed to rebut the allegation. The evidential onus of proof was on him, and the party making the allegation was not required to show that the commercial success was due to other factors.”
WLR Daily, 21st May 2009
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Kelly and Another v GE Healthcare Ltd – Times Law Reports
Kelly and Another v GE Healthcare Ltd
Chancery Division
“Compensation for employed inventors of inventions of outstanding benefit to the employer should be determined after the event, not before, in accordance with all available evidence so as to secure a just and fair reward to the employee.”
The Times, 3rd April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Dragons’ Den winner infringed own patent, IPO rules – OUT-LAW.com
“A man whose invention caught the attention of millions of television viewers may have infringed a patent he applied for himself 10 years ago. A contestant on the Dragons’ Den TV programme may have to defend his invention from legal action.”
OUT-LAW.com, 16th March 2009
Source: www.out-law.com
Crucial patent law terms are not synonymous, House of Lords rules – OUT-LAW.com
“Two concepts at the heart of patent law are not synonymous, the House of Lords has ruled. The judgment in a dispute over anti-depressant medicines is likely to clarify a complex point of patent law.”
OUT-LAW.com, 27th February 2009
Source: www.out-law.com
Generics (UK) Ltd and others v H Lundbeck A/S – WLR Daily
Generics (UK) Ltd and others v H Lundbeck A/S [2009] WLR (D) 68
“A claim for revocation on the ground of insufficiency of a patent in which claims 1 and 3 were to a product consisting of a single chemical compound and claim 6 was to a process for preparing it failed.”
WLR Daily, 25th February 2009
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
High Court awards inventors £1.5m for outstanding work – OUT-LAW.com
“Two researchers have been awarded £1.5 million under a little-used section of patent law which allows employees extra compensation for inventions which are of “outstanding benefit” to employers.”
OUT-LAW.com, 16th February 2009
Source: www.out-law.com
Kelly and another v GE Healthcare Ltd – WLR Daily
Kelly and another v GE Healthcare Ltd [2009] EWHC 181 (Pat); [2009] WLR (D) 50
“Compensation of employees for certain inventions pursuant to s 40 of the Patents Act 1977 was not restricted to remedying some loss. Compensation for an invention of ‘outstanding benefit’ was to be determined in accordance with all available evidence, as per s 41 of the 1977 Act, so as to secure a just and fair reward to the employee, neither limiting the employee to compensation for loss or damage, nor placing the employee in as strong a position as an external patentee or licensor.”
WLR Daily, 12th February 2009
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Virgin Atlantic loses design rights and patent claims over flatbed seats – OUT-LAW.com
“Airline Virgin Atlantic has lost its claim that a rival airline’s seat infringed its intellectual property rights. Virgin Atlantic’s patent design rights were not infringed by a design produced by Virgin’s seat design contractor for a rival, the High Court said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 27th January 2009
Source: www.out-law.com
IPO sticks to four-step software patent test – OUT-LAW.com
“The UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) will still use a previously formulated test on software patents despite a court ruling which many took to be critical of its approach.”
OUT-LAW.com, 18th December 2008
Source: www.out-law.com
Sir James Dyson in High Court attempt to see off rival vacuum design – Daily Telegraph
“The tycoon Sir James Dyson, whose trademark ‘double cyclone’ vacuum cleaner has become a world beater, has gone to the High Court to try to block a rival design from Samsung Electronics.”
Full story
Daily Telegraph, 10th December 2008
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Blacklight Power v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks – Times Law Reports
Blacklight Power v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks
Chancery Division
“The correct standard of proof for establishing patentability was the balance of probabilities.”
The Times, 10th December 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
Blacklight Power Inc v Comptroller-General of Patents – WLR Daily
Blacklight Power Inc v Comptroller-General of Patents [2008] EWHC 2763 (Pat); [2008] WLR (D) 360
“The correct standard of proof that an applicant was required to satisfy to establish patentability was the balance of probabilities.”
WLR Daily, 19th November 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
European patent body will issue definitive ruling on software patents – OUT-LAW.com
“The European Patent Office (EPO) has asked its ultimate legal authority to look at the European Patent Convention (EPC) and issue advice on the patentability of software. The EPO said that such advice was necessary to ensure the uniform application of the EPC.”
OUT-LAW.com, 28th October 2008
Source: www.out-law.com
Symbian Ltd v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks – Times Law Reports
Symbian Ltd v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks
Court of Appeal
“A method of accessing data in a dynamic link library in a computing device was not excluded by reason of being a computer program from registration as a patent as it imvolved a technical contribution which would enable computers to work faster and more reliably.”
The Times, 28th October 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
8 New Square victorious in software patent appeal – The Lawyer
“IP chambers 8 New Square has scored a Court of Appeal win for technology company Symbian, in a decision that could see software patents allowed in the UK for the first time.”
The Lawyer, 20th October 2008
Source: www.thelawyer.com
Symbian Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents – WLR Daily
Symbian Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents [2008] EWCA Civ 1066; [2008] WLR (D) 310
“A patent application concerning a method of accessing data in a dynamic link library in a computing device was not excluded from registration under s 1(2)(c) of the Patents Act 1977 on the ground that it related to a computer program ‘as such’, since it involved a technical contribution to the prior art which would enable computers and related devices to work faster and more reliably.”
WLR Daily, 9th October 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
Court ruling strengthens patent protection for UK software – The Times
“Technology companies will find it easier to safeguard their innovations in the UK after a court ruled that software should receive wider patent protection.”
The Times, 8th October 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
