Practical Tips for Patenting Antibodies in Europe

Antibody
The patenting of proteins is well established in Europe as long as they meet the requirements of novelty and inventive step.Antibodies are a specific type of protein, and to obtain useful patent protection for these, there are specific requirements to take into consideration.We have previously written about the European Patent Office's Guidelines f...
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942 Hits

Developing Drugs for Developing World Diseases: The Role of Patents

Mosquito
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the issue of patents for medicines (in particular vaccines in the case of Covid) to the fore.From the debate surrounding enhancing distribution of Covid vaccines in the developing world by implementing a patent waiver, it is clear that the oft-heard argument that intellectual property to protect such vital products...
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1211 Hits

Williams Powell wins MIP award of European Cross-Border Patent Litigation Team

Managing-IP-Award
We are delighted to announce that Williams Powell was presented with the special award of European Cross-Border Patent Litigation Team of the Year for the Stephen Thaler v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (DABUS) case at the prestigious Managing IP Awards on 15 June 2022. Williams Powell was recognised for the work of Robert ...
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1523 Hits

Sequence Listings Looking Towards the "Big Bang"

BigBang
The beginning of July sees a shake up in how sequence listings are to be presented in patent applications around the world. After almost 25 years, WIPO has updated its standard from ST.25 to ST.26, and relevant patent applications at the International Bureau and in all WIPO contracting states (including both the EPO and the UK IPO) will need to inc...
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1216 Hits

UK Patent Attorneys able to represent clients before the European Unified Patent Court

Representation
It has been confirmed that European patent attorneys having a relevant UK qualification will be able to represent clients directly before the Unified Patent Court. All of Williams Powell's patent attorneys have the relevant qualifications and will therefore be entered on the list of representatives. As previously reported, the new UPC system i...
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1408 Hits

European Unitary Patent in 2022?

Europe
As the European Patent Office announces transitional provisions ready for entry into force of the UPC Agreement, it is starting to look like we may have the first European Unitary Patent within the next year or so. While there will of course be competition to see who manages to get the first Unitary Patent, there are also serious strategi...
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1972 Hits

Plausibility - EPO stays proceedings in view of Enlarged Board Referral

moth-g635cf3fe4_1920
The European Patent Office has announced a stay of all examination/opposition proceedings involving applications/patents in which the assessment of inventive step is exclusively based on evidence that was not publicly available before the filing date, and in which the decision depends entirely on the outcome of Referral G2/21 (Plausibility), u...
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2237 Hits

A Unified Patent Court for Europe - Coming Soon?

UPC
Europe may soon have its Unified Patent Court and Williams Powell is ready to assist you. With attorneys qualified for the European Patent Litigation Certificate (which gives UPC rights of representation) and as a Patent Attorney Advocate & Litigator (which gives rights of representation in the UK Courts) we are well-placed not only to obtain I...
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1908 Hits

Patent Sufficiency reconsidered by UK Court of Appeal

Sufficiency
This Court of Appeal Decision concerned two families of patents held by FibroGen:Family A and Family B relating to H1F-PH inhibitors for the treatment of (respectively) CKD anaemia (anaemia associated with chronic kidney disease) and ACD (anaemia of chronic disease).Family A was published before the relevant priority date of Family B, and so i...
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1545 Hits

Illumina – Shining a light on DNA Sequencing Technology

Sequence
In this English High Court case relating to the infringement and validity of five patents held by Illumina, Mr Justice Birss decided upon several hot topics in the biotech patenting world. We summarise some of the most interesting points here. The Technology Briefly, the patents related to DNA sequencing technology.More specifically, three of ...
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2197 Hits

Claiming Antibodies in European Patent Applications

Immune
In the past year, we have all heard more about antibodies in the general news than anyone ever desired. When we are exposed to pathogens, antibodies form a vital part of our immune systems in protecting us from deadly diseases.Isolated from the body or synthetically produced, antibodies can have many uses and are particularly important as therapeut...
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2668 Hits

Defining Amino Acid and Nucleic Acid Sequences in European Patent Applications

BioSeq
Welcome guidance on the interpretation of claims to amino acids and nucleic acids defined by their sequences is provided by updated Guidelines for Examination at the European Patent Office now in force. New section F-IV-4.24 sets out that both amino acid sequences and nucleic acid sequences can be defined by "percentage identity". The percenta...
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2248 Hits

European Patent Office pushes use of video conferences in Opposition Division oral proceedings

 As of January 2021, parties will no longer have free choice on whether a hearing (oral proceedings) during examination or opposition is in person or via video conferencing before the European Patent Office (EPO). Video conferences will be the default. 12 months ago, we would have had to fight for a hearing (oral proceedings) to be held with t...
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2336 Hits

Supplementary Protection Certificates: Only for First Use of an Authorised Product

A Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) can provide up to five years additional protection for a patented active ingredient of a pharmaceutical product that has received a marketing authorisation. The objective is to compensate a patent holder for the delay in being able to use the patent by the need to obtain the marketing authorisation. An S...
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1506 Hits

UK IPO Calls for Views on Patents for AI Inventions

We have previously written about our involvement in filing and prosecuting patent applications for two inventions created by the AI inventor DABUS, and naming DABUS (the true deviser of the inventions) as the inventor.The UK IPO found the inventions to be both novel and inventive, and therefore, in principle, protectable by patent.  ...
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1703 Hits

UK Patent Courts Warn Against Greedy Claims

Ever since the Decision issued back in 1997 in the case of Biogen v Medeva the concept of insufficiency has been extended, particularly in the chemical and biotech fields, to include claims that have "excessive breadth" (so-called "Biogen insufficiency"). The Courts in the UK have applied this frequently to revoke patents that they decide clai...
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2251 Hits

UK Supreme Court invalidates transgenic mouse patents for insufficiency

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' European patent EP 1360287 and its divisional EP 2264163 relate to methods of producing transgenic mice able to produce antibodies having human sequences, and the mice produced thereby. These patents covered the idea of producing mice having mixed human-murine gene sequences that could be subsequently modified t...
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2380 Hits

Plants Produced by Essentially Biological Processes are not Patentable in Europe

vegetables
You might think that an article dealing with broccoli, tomatoes and peppers ought to be on a recipe blog. However, these are the names of high profile cases in an area that, over recent years, has seen more change in European patent law than perhaps any other. It now seems that the European Patent Office wants closure. We reported here on the most ...
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2612 Hits