Coercing Applicants With DPMAdirektWeb For TM Applications – A Failed Approach?

Thu, 28 Nov 2013 15:46:53 +0000

A couple of minutes ago I was called in by a KSNH paralegal to assist her in filing an application for a national German trade mark application utilising the new DPMAdirektWeb facility which is available to the public since November 12, 2013. She had just [...]

Germany: Copyright Protection More Easily Available For Works Of “Applied Arts”

Thu, 14 Nov 2013 17:55:10 +0000

Back in 2004, Germany saw a fundamental reform of the German Act on Registered Designs (“Geschmacksmustergesetz”): Before, Gebrauchsmusterschutz was defined as sort of a small coin of Copyright (“Kleine Münze des Urheberrechtes”). In particular, the old Act on Registered Designs made use of the concept of level of originality (“Gestaltungshöhe”) which is a [...]

Could The World Bank Become Ultimate Supreme Patent Court of U.S. And EU Under TAFTA/TTIP?

Tue, 15 Oct 2013 20:42:57 +0000

As everyone is aware, a new European Unified Patent Court system is in the making. The Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) has been signed by all of the EU Member States but Spain and Poland and is now waiting for at least 13 ratifications (including Germany, [...]

Time Limits & Deadlines in Draft UPCA RoP: Counting The Days

Mon, 02 Sep 2013 06:01:46 +0000

If court proceedings took many years and a final decision was delivered only after, say, ten years of endless deliberations or so, delivering  justice this late might well be perceived as delivering no justice at all. Hence, when composing present Draft of the Rules of Procedure [...]

An Era Of Discontent?

Fri, 30 Aug 2013 14:54:46 +0000

In Janurary this year I was happy to report that

In a move towards greater transparency, the European Patent Office is improving the access to the documents of the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation. Under this new policy, [...]

Wiki Edition of Agreement on Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA)

Thu, 29 Aug 2013 18:43:03 +0000

Earlier this year the Agreement on creating a European Unified Patent Court was signed in Brussels. As it is well known, now the Agreement needs Ratification by at least 13 participating EU Member States, including the “Big Three”, namely Germany, United Kingdom, [...]

EU Commission publishes Proposal of amendend Brussels I Regulation for ensuring Enforcement of UPC Judgements

Wed, 31 Jul 2013 14:25:42 +0000

In this earlier posting we discussed the compatibility of the Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA)  with the Acquis Communautaire of the European Union. One of those aspects was an adaption of the Brussels I Regulation (Ref 1215/2012), which ensures recognition and enforcement of national court judgements in other EU member states (see also [...]

EPI suggests flexible scheme for UPC Representation by European Patent Attorneys

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 12:15:52 +0000

Reades of this blog may have noticed that we try to cover the discussion about representation rights of European Patent Attorneys before the new Unified Patent Court. Our recent postings related to this issue may be found here, here, and here.

According to Art. 48 (1) UPCA, all national lawyers of the [...]

US Federal Circuit: Business Method patentable as Claims show technological Advance – How would Europe decide?

Tue, 02 Jul 2013 08:31:44 +0000

The patent US 7,346,545, relating to delivering copyrighted media products through a server free of charge in exchange for watching advertisements, has been enforced by Ultramercial against a number of Internet media competitors, like Hulu, WildTangent and YouTube. In August 2010 the 545 patent has been found invalid by a California [...]

US Patent revoked as being non-technological and unpatentably abstract – But what is the Difference?

Sun, 30 Jun 2013 12:35:35 +0000

In this ealier posting on the America Invents Act we reported on the new Covered Business Methods Review (faq, info) which allows to challenge any business method patent before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) as soon as it is enforced against an accused infringer.

From a European perspective, this new proceedings seems particularly interesting [...]