EPLAW PATENT BLOG

EPO – The EPO’s power to appoint oral proceedings in the Hague not subject to review by the EBA

Posted: April 11th, 2016

EPO, R 13/14, EBA, decision of 15 January 2016 – Borealis Technology OY, not to be published in OJ EPO The EPC 2000 implemented the BEST (Bringing Search and Examination Together) project. Since then the departments of first instance of the EPO rendering decisions are no longer located only in Munich but also in the […]

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EPO – TBA finds a substantial procedural violation because of excessive length of grant proceedings – appeal fee reimbursed

Posted: April 1st, 2016

EPO, T 823/11, TBA 3.5.07, decision of 21 December 2015 – Managing patient care /CAREFUSION The application was filed in the US as an international application on 15 May 1996 and entered the European phase on 15 December 1997. The supplementary European search report was issued on 18 February 1999. After three communications, the Examining […]

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EPO – Annual report 2015

Posted: March 10th, 2016

European Patent Office – Annual report 2015 Last week the EPO published its annual report. The report shows that Philips moved into the top spot in the list of companies with the most patent applications at the EPO in 2015. Samsung ranked second, followed by LG, Huawei and Siemens. The top 10 was made up […]

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EPO – Structural Reform of the Boards of Appeal

Posted: December 14th, 2015

New proposals of the President of the EPO urge the Administrative Council to move the Boards to Vienna – Members of the Boards consider the proposed changes as detrimental to independence Following a public consultation on first proposals of the President of the EPO for a structural reform of the Boards of Appeal (BoA), the […]

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EU – ERA conference on the EU Unitary Patent 2015

Posted: October 23rd, 2015

Academy of European Law (ERA), Annual Conference on the EU Unitary Patent 2015, Brussels, 26 November 2015     Objective Just before the Unitary Patent Court starts functioning, this one-day conference will offer an update on the most recent political and legal developments regarding the Unitary Patent in the EU and the rules of procedure […]

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EPO – Case Law from the Contracting States to the EPC 2011 – 2014

Posted: September 17th, 2015

Summaries of selected national patent law cases in the three official languages "This edition of the Case Law from the Contracting States to the EPC 2011 – 2014 contains summaries of 99 selected decisions from 11 different EPC contracting states, handed down during that time. They have been selected for their significance regarding substantive patent […]

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EPO – AMBA’s response to EPLAW’s letter re institutional reform BoA EPO

Posted: August 31st, 2015

Response by Association of the Members of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office (AMBA) to letters by EPLAW, CCBE and epi concerning the proposal for the institutional reform of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office "The Association of the Members of the Boards of Appeal of the European Patent […]

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EPO – European Inventor Award 2016

Posted: August 31st, 2015

EPLAW members are encouraged to propose candidates for the 2016 edition of the European Inventor Award. Proposals should be made as soon as possible, at the latest by 14 October 2015. Proposals may be sent to: european-inventor@epo.org More information may be found here and here.

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EPO – Alarming loss of Board members

Posted: July 3rd, 2015

New Business Distribution Schemes reveal an alarming loss of Board members The new Business Distribution Schemes for the Boards of Appeal for the second half of 2015 have been published on the EPO’s website, following the re-appointment of members in the Administrative Council’s meeting in the preceding week. The schemes show the following vacancies: Chairmen […]

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