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After the German Parliament's upper house, the Bundesrat, passed the legislation to allow Germany to ratify the UPC Agreement (UPCA), there have been two challenges filed before the German Constitutional Court. As a result, according to information from the Federal President’s office, he has been asked to delay his signature, which is required in order for the legislation to enter into force. This time the challenges include interim injunction applications, but we expect that if these are rejected, Germany will deposit its ratification of the Protocol on Provisional Application of the UPCA and not await the full decision. Read more
Consumer confidence in the origins and safety of the food they purchase and consume is a significant aspect of food brand protection and longevity. Maintaining that confidence involves the use of many different strategies, rights and regulatory controls at national and international level.
In Trust on a plate: consumer confidence and food safety, the latest briefing in our Future of Consumer series, contributors Italy, Australia, the UK, China, Indonesia and across the EU cover food trust issues including geographical indications, labelling, supply chain transparency and food crime. Read more
The Unified Patent Court (UPC) took another step closer to coming into being on November 26 with a Bundestag vote passing the legislation necessary for Germany to ratify the UPC Agreement and the Protocol on Provisional Application with (more than) the two thirds majority found to be required by the German Federal Constitutional Court in … Read more
Geographical indications have been receiving increasing levels of attention recently: The UK has announced a new system for GIs which will come into effect at the end of the Brexit transition period (see our post here); the EU has recently concluded an agreement on the mutual recognition of GIs with China (see more on this … Read more
The European Commission has this week published a wide-ranging and ambitious Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, and an Action Plan on Intellectual Property. Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe The new pharmaceutical strategy for Europe is a key pillar of the European Health Union, which President von der Leyen called for in her 2020 State of the Union … Read more
The Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) has launched a one week public consultation, closing 30 September 2020, on the draft "Guidelines for the preparation of the Dossier supporting the price and reimbursement application", i.e. draft guidelines that set out, in practice, the information and documentation that pharmaceutical companies will now be required to submit before AIFA to support their price and reimbursement applications. This is the last step before the implementation of the new procedure for the price and reimbursement negotiation set out in the Decree on price and reimbursement negotiation of 2 August 2019. Read more
Like Cadbury before them, Glaxo’s hard-fought attempts to register a trade mark for a shade of purple have been rejected. In this case, Glaxo had sought to register the colour of its seretide inhalers and asthma treatments as a trade mark, by providing the description “Purple – Pantone: 2787C” and this sign: The General Court … Read more
The UPC Preparatory Committee met yesterday (10.9.20) to discuss UK withdrawal and German ratification. It agreed that, on a temporary basis (in order not to delay the start of the UPC system further), Munich and Paris would split the workload London would have taken as the life sciences seat of the central division of the UPC. Milan looks to be a lead candidate for the location of this seat of the central division in the longer term. Read more
In the Brompton Bicycle case (C-833/18) the CJEU has issued a key decision on whether it is possible for a mass-produced utilitarian product with a functional design to qualify for copyright protection. The Court found that copyright protection could apply to a product “whose shape is at least in part, necessary to obtain a technical result … Read more
