Leutheusser-Scharrenberger looking forward to a bright new future for the German patent law

The German Federal Government Cabinet has agreed to a proposal of the Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger to reform the German patent law.

Key points include:

• The prolongation of the opposition period from 3 months to 9 months.
• The search report will include a written opinion similar to the European Search Opinion.
•   ...

Bad news for supporters of bifurcation? German invalidity proceedings take a lot longer than infringement proceedings

I've recently learned from my friend Derek Tong (Managing Editor, Bloomberg BNA) that his title World Intellectual Property Report has now published the first of a six-part series by Jonathan Radcliffe (a partner in Mayer Brown's London office) which seeks to explore the strategic and planning considerations for patent ...

"Europe’s Unified Patent Court will hinder SMEs, not help them, say MPs" is the title of a press release issued by the British Parliament's European Scrutiny Committee -- a cross-party body of elected Members of Parliament which examines European legislative proposals and advises Parliament as how to respond to them. It reads as follows:

The draft agreement on the Unified Patent Court (UPC) is likely to hinder, rather than help, the ...

Wagner International AG & Others v Earlex Ltd [2012] EWHC 984 (Pat) is a decision of Mr Justice Floyd on 18 April in the Patents Court, England and Wales. Though not a major ruling, enriched by profound pronouncements of legal principle, it is nonetheless instructive for the tidy and efficient manner in which the trial judge marshalled the evidence -- and as a reminder of how easily a claimant patent owner can sow at least some of the ...

All the way from Australia comes some news from Baker & McKenzie of the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Raising the Bar) Act 2011, which covers a range of IP areas. This Act, which came into force on 16 April, makes provision for a number of legislative reforms that don't take effect until 15 April 2013. One such reform will interest PatLit readers since it deals with how declarations of non-infringement are pleaded. According to our ...