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Herbert Smith Freehills' European IP team have had a feature article on the EU's IP Action Plan published in the April edition of PLC Magazine – see EU Action Plan on IP – the challenge ahead here.
The article looks at the current challenges for the EU in relation to IP, its key focus areas and plans for future regulation and legislation, including:
• The Unified Patent Court (UPC)
• Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs)
• Compulsory licensing
• Standard Essential Patents (SEPs)
• AI and emerging technologies
• Counterfeiting
• Designs
• Geographical Indications
• Data
• The Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe
Read more
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
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
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
CJEU follows Cofemel in allowing copyright protection where designs are not exclusively dictated by technical function The CJEU has decided in the Brompton Bicycle case C-833/18 (11 June 2020) that to qualify for copyright, a design must be original – that is, the subject matter must reflect the personality of its author (the creator or designer), as an … Read more
Key recent developments in the United Kingdom and Europe relating to patents and the pharmaceutical sector In this update we welcome our new IP partner in Germany. We have a number of interesting updates from the UK Court of Appeal, including a decision on Arrow declarations, a competition decision, an appeal relating to the lapse of an … Read more
Two important pieces of medicines and medical devices regulation are currently pending in the UK and the European Union: in the UK, the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill (the UK Bill), and in the EU, the Medical Devices Regulation (the EU Regulation on Medical Devices). COVID-19 has also had an impact, with the EU Regulation … Read more
Herbert Smith Freehills has published a new global guide on supply chain difficulties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions and solutions. Supply chain difficulties are at the heart of the pressures facing businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. In our latest guide we look at supply chain pressure points and what is being and … Read more