Oral proceedings before the examining divisions of the EPO are now to be held by default by vidéoconférence.

In the wake of the CoVid-19 outbreak, the EPO took a further measure to limit the impact of travel restrictions and lockdowns on the operation of the EPO and its users.

L'OEB annonce une augmentation des taxes à partir du 1er avril 2020

Les règles de l'OEB relatives aux taxes ont été modifiées par décision du Conseil d'administration du 12 décembre 2019. La version modifiée des règles relatives aux taxes est applicable à partir du 1er avril 2020.

New rules relating to the reimbursement of the appeal fee.

New rules relating to the reimbursement of the appeal fee. According to the decision of the Administrative Council of the EPO of 12 December 2019, Rule 103 EPC, which relates to the reimbursement of the appeal fee, was amended. 

Implementation of the SPC waiver by the INPI

Since July 1, 2019, Regulation (EC) No. 469/2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate (SPC) for medicinal products has been amended to allow manufacturers of generics and biosimilars established in the European Union (EU) manufacture in the EU products, or medicines containing these products, for export to third countries outside of the EU, or for storage in the 6 months preceding SPC expiry.

Nouvelle édition des directives pour l'examen à l'OEB

The European Patent Office have amended the Guidelines for Examination. The new Guidelines are valid as of November 2019. They include many minor editorial changes but also other changes, which may have an influence on the proceedings at the EPO. In the following, we have selected some of these changes.

PPH programme with Superintendence of Industry and Commerce of Columbia extended

PPH programme with Superintendence of Industry and Commerce of Columbia extended. The European Patent Office has extended the PPH programme with the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce of Columbia (SIC). The trial period for this programme, which was initially set up for three years from 1^st of October 2016, has been extended for a further three year period until 30 September 2022.

India : update on divisional application practice

The sine qua non condition to ensure the conformity of a divisional application is the existence of a plurality of inventions in the parent application.

Assessment the legitimate interest of a domain name holder

Assessment of the domain name's owner legitimate interest - Court of cassation, commercial, financial and economic section, June 5th 2019, appeal n°17-22.132. The DATAXY company, registry office of domain names, had reserved on 2004 the following domains <saoneetloire.fr> and <saone-et-loire.fr>, both renewed on 2012. The domain <saône-et-loire.fr> was reserved on 2012...

Enlarged Board of Appeal Decision G 2/19 Oral proceedings at the Haar premises

Enlarged Board of Appeal Decision G 2/19 - Oral proceedings at the Haar premises. In the T831/17 case, the Appellant filed third party observations during examination and subsequently an appeal against the decision of grant by the Examining Division. He filed a request for oral proceedings, but objected inter alia to the oral proceedings being held in the recently created site at Haar/Munich

Absence of genuine use of a trademark: what are the proper grounds?

Non-use and genuine use of a trademark : what are the proper reasons ? Court of appeal, May 17th 2019, Sas Affaires à faire c/ Sarl Chloelina - In the context of an invalidation action for non-use brought in front of the French courts, the owner of the contested trademark had tried to shrink from its legal obligation to prove the genuine use of his trademark by invoking unfair competition proceedings in progress...

The In-House Lawyer - Spring 2019

Discover an article from Camille PECNARD and Alix CAPELY : overview of case law on the collection of evidence in IP cases in France.

PPH programme with Australian Patent Office extended

PPH programme with Australian Patent Office extended - The European Patent Office has extend the PPH programme with the Australian Patent Office. The trial period for this programme, which was initially set up for three years from 1^st of July 2016, has been extended for a further three year period until 30 June 2022.