Category: patents

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

Posted February 17th, 2009 in news, patents by sally

“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.”

Kelly and another v GE Healthcare Ltd [2009] EWHC 181 (Pat); [2009] WLR (D) 50

OUT-LAW.com, 16th February 2009

Source: www.out-law.com

Kelly and another v GE Healthcare Ltd – WLR Daily

Posted February 13th, 2009 in compensation, law reports, patents by sally

“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

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

Posted January 28th, 2009 in airlines, news, patents by sally

“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

Posted December 19th, 2008 in computer programs, news, patents by sally

“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.”

Blacklight Power v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks

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

Posted December 11th, 2008 in news, patents by sally

“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

Posted December 10th, 2008 in law reports, patents, standard of proof by sally

Chancery Division

“The correct standard of proof for establishing patentability was the balance of probabilities.”

The Times, 10th December 2008

Blacklight Power Inc v Comptroller-General of Patents [2008] EWHC 2763 (Pat); [2008] WLR (D) 360

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

Posted November 20th, 2008 in law reports, patents, standard of proof by sally

“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

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

Posted October 28th, 2008 in computer programs, EC law, news, patents by sally

“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.”

Symbian Ltd v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks

OUT-LAW.com, 28th October 2008

Source: www.out-law.com

Symbian Ltd v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks – Times Law Reports

Posted October 28th, 2008 in computer programs, law reports, patents by sally

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

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

Posted October 21st, 2008 in computer programs, news, patents by sally

“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.”

Symbian Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents [2008] EWCA Civ 1066; [2008] WLR (D) 310

The Lawyer, 20th October 2008

Source: www.thelawyer.com

Symbian Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents – WLR Daily

Posted October 10th, 2008 in computer programs, law reports, patents by sally

“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

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

Posted October 8th, 2008 in computer programs, news, patents by sally

“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

Activists plan day of protest against software patents – OUT-LAW.com

Posted September 23rd, 2008 in computer programs, EC law, news, patents by sally

“Activists have declared tomorrow ‘Stop Software Patents Day’. The day is being held on the fifth anniversary of a European Parliament decision to limit patent law in a way that campaigners say benefited small software developers.”

OUT-LAW.com, 23rd September 2008

Source: www.out-law.com

High Court ruling attacks ‘bits of legal boilerplate, bolted together’ – OUT-LAW.com

Posted September 11th, 2008 in agreements, drafting, news, patents by sally

“A court has attacked lawyers who let word processors do their thinking for them. Standard paragraphs are being bolted together to make nonsensical agreements, said a High Court ruling on Friday.”

OUT-LAW.com, 11th September 2008

Source: www.out-law.com

UK-IPO asks if research exemption in patent law is too vague – OUT-LAW.com

Posted July 9th, 2008 in news, patents by sally

“The UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) will attempt to clear up uncertainty and doubt about an exception to patent law for researchers, moving to end a lack of clarity about which acts are illegal and which are allowed.”

OUT-LAW.com, 9th July 2008

Source: www.out-law.com

Groundless patent threat over wine tap leads to Smurfit payout – OUT-LAW.com

Posted June 30th, 2008 in news, patents by sally

“Packaging firm Smurfit must pay a rival damages because it made groundless threats about a patent infringement lawsuit to one of its rival’s customers.”

Actavis UK Ltd v Merck and Co Inc

OUT-LAW.com, 30th June 2008

Source: www.out-law.com

Actavis UK Ltd v Merck and Co Inc – Times Law Reports

Posted June 5th, 2008 in appeals, law reports, patents by sally

Court of Appeal

“Unlike human rights law, where the Court of Appeal had to refer to the House of Lords a case involving a decision of the European Court of Human Rights which conflicted with an earlier Court of Appeal decision, since patent law was much more specialist than human rights law, the Court of Appeal was free to depart from its own previous decision where it was satisfied that the European Patent Office Boards of Appeal had formed a settled view of European patent law which was inconsistent with that earlier decision.”

The Times, 5th June 2008

Kapur v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks

Please note the Times Law Reports are only free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.

Kapur v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks – Times Law Reports

Posted June 3rd, 2008 in law reports, patents by sally

Chancery Division

“The exclusion within section 1(2)(c) of the Patents Act 1977 stating that schemes rules and methods for performing mental acts were not to be regarded as inventions should be construed narrowly. What should be considered was whether a claim actually covered a purely mental implementation of a claimed invention.”

The Times, 3rd June 2008

Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.

High Court says UK-IPO was wrong to reject software-related patent – OUT-LAW.com

Posted March 18th, 2008 in computer programs, news, patents by sally

“The High Court has overturned a decision of the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) to reject a patent application as being nothing more than software. The UK-IPO said that today’s ruling is incompatible with other decisions and will appeal.”