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News and commentary on IP issues

EPO Enlarged Board Decision Confirms Commercially Available Products Are Prior Art

Monday, 24 November 2025

Katherine Ellis

Patents

EPO Enlarged Board Decision Confirms Commercially Available Products Are Prior Art

A recent European Patent Office Enlarged Board of Appeal decision G1/23 has clarified that commercially available products form part of the state of the art irrespective of whether the skilled person is able to reproducibly manufacture them. For thirty or so years, the leading authority on whether a product has been made available to the ...

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188 Hits

EPO Enlarged Board clarifies that the description and drawings shall always be consulted to interpret claims

Thursday, 19 June 2025

David Grainger

Patents

book-3294946_640

On 18 June 2025, the European Patent Office's Enlarged Board of Appeal issued their keenly awaited G1/24 decision clarifying the rules of interpretation for patent claims when assessing patentability. The Board decided that the "description and drawings shall always be consulted to interpret the claims" when assessing the patentability o...

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European Patent Office patent G1/24 claim interpretation description

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Defining Your Patient Group – A Cautionary Tale

Wednesday, 21 May 2025

Katherine Ellis

Patents

The recent EPO appeal decision T0589/22 discusses the requirement of plausibility in a diagnostic method case, but also provides a cautionary tale regarding defining a patient group in a claim. At the European Patent Office, for a therapeutic application (and by extension, a diagnostic application) to be considered sufficiently disclosed, the ...

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sufficiency plausability evidence diagnostic methods interpretation

1089 Hits

Validation of European Patents in Laos

Monday, 31 March 2025

Katherine Ellis

Patents

The European Patent Office has announced that the validation agreement with Laos signed in May 2024 will enter into force on 1 April 2025. From this date, it will be possible to obtain protection in 46 countries by means of a single European patent: - The 39 Member States - The single remaining Extension State (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - ...

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1295 Hits

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European Patent Office EPO European Patent validation Laos

1295 Hits

How and whether to accelerate environmentally friendly patent applications in the UK

Wednesday, 19 February 2025

Peter Marchand

Patents

How and whether to accelerate environmentally friendly patent applications in the UK

Green means go…? The drive for sustainability across all industries is constantly yielding new technologies. However, it is not only in brand new ideas that businesses are striving to make progress. The improvement and optimisation of existing technologies is critical to making advancements in sustainability. This presents further opportunities for...

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Costa Rica to become EPO validation state

Friday, 03 January 2025

Jonathan Exell

Patents

A validation agreement has been signed between the European Patent Office and Costa Rica. It was signed on 13 December 2024 and is expected to enter into force shortly, making Costa Rica the seventh country to become a "European" validation state. Once the agreement comes into force, European Patents can be validated in Costa Rica ...

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European Patent Office validation agreement Costa Rica

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UK Patents – Is a Neural Network a Computer Program

Friday, 06 December 2024

Jonathan Exell

Patents

The UK court case over Emotional Perception's patent application is set to continue into next year. The UK Supreme Court will consider the case and, we expect, be asked to decide what is a computer program. Earlier the year, we reported on Emotional Perception's success in the High Court, persuading the Judge that because an artificial neural netwo...

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patent UK Supreme Court computer program Emotional Perception ANN

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UK IPO launches new SME financial support scheme, IP Advance

Thursday, 29 August 2024

Greta Mariani

Patents Trade Marks General IP

In welcome news for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the UK Intellectual Property office (IPO) has launched "IP Advance", a new financial support scheme which offers SMEs a helping hand in understanding and commercialising their intellectual property (IP) assets. The scheme has two tiers of funding, and businesses can apply to either one,...

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SMEs funding IPAdvance IP Audit IP Access

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Romania to become 18th Unitary Patent state

Wednesday, 05 June 2024

David Grainger

Patents

Flag of Romania

Romania has ratified the Unitary Patent Court Agreement and deposited its ratification. It will become the 18th member state of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) on 01 September 2024, and Unitary Patents registered on or after this date will also include Romania. As highlighted in our related article, this does not have retrospective effect...

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Unified Patent Court Romania Unitary Patent Court Agreement member state 01 September 2024

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Not all Unitary Patents are created equal

Wednesday, 05 June 2024

David Grainger

Patents

Romania becomes 18th Unitary Patent state

Different Unitary Patents can have different geographical coverage. The Unitary Patent states are fixed when a Unitary Patent is registered during the grant stage of a European patent. Countries that subsequently become Unitary Patent states are not retrospectively added. This is in stark contrast to European Trade Marks and Designs where...

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European patent Different Unitary Patents Unitary Patent states countries Romania

2873 Hits

European Patent Office Launches New Fee Reduction Scheme to Support Micro-Entities

Monday, 05 February 2024

Katherine Ellis

Patents

In good news for individuals and smaller businesses with little experience of the European patent system, the European Patent Office will shortly be introducing additional discounts on some of its fees for certain applicants. However, there are strict and complex requirements on eligibility and caution should be used in deciding whether or not...

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European Patent Office EPO EPO Fees Fee Reduction Micro entity

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European Patent Office Fees increase from 1 April 2024

Sunday, 04 February 2024

Jonathan Exell

Patents

The European Patent Office has announced increases to a number of its fees. The increases become effective on any payment made from 1 April 2024 onward. Many, such as the increases to the search, examination and grant fees are modest. However, the renewal fees payable in years 3-5 of a European patent application will increase&n...

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European Patent Office EPO 1 April 2024 renewal fees fee increase

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Validation of European Patents in Georgia

Thursday, 04 January 2024

Katherine Ellis

Patents

On 15 January 2024, the Republic of Georgia will become the 45th country in which patent protection may be obtained via a European patent. The "validation" agreement between Georgia and the European Patent Organisation was signed on 31 October 2019, and will come into force this month. The European Patent Organisation currently has 39 Member States...

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Georgia European patent European Patent Organisation validation

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UK Patentability for Artificial Intelligence

Tuesday, 02 January 2024

Jonathan Exell

Patents AI

The UK High Court has issued an important ruling in Emotional Perception AI Ltd v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, overruling the UK IPO and deciding that trained artificial neural networks (ANNs) do not fall under the "program for a computer" exclusion of section 1(2)(c) of the Patents Act 1977. The UK I...

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AI UK IPO UK High Court Emotional Perception AI Ltd v Comptroller-General computer program

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UK Supreme Court Judgement on DABUS as an inventor

Wednesday, 20 December 2023

Robert Jehan

Patents AI

The-Supreme-Court-Westminster-London

Today, 20th December 2023, the UK Supreme Court has handed down its judgment in this case, dismissing Dr Thaler's appeal. On the Issue of Patentability The UK Supreme Court has held that: "…DABUS, a machine with no legal personality, is not and has never been an inventor within the meaning of the 1977 Act. This is more than a formal objection.It go...

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patent AI DABUS inventor UK Supreme Court

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Right to priority in European Patent Applications - EPO decides there is a rebuttable presumption of validity

Friday, 20 October 2023

Katherine Ellis

Patents

The Enlarged Board of Appeal at the European Patent Office (EPO) has now issued its written decision in consolidated cases G1/22 and G2/22. The Enlarged Board of Appeal concludes that the EPO is competent to assess priority entitlement and that there is a rebuttable presumption that an applicant claiming priority in accordance with the formal requi...

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EPO G1/22 G2/22 priority validity

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Goodbye to the "Ten Day Rule" at the EPO

Monday, 16 October 2023

Katherine Ellis

Patents

The EPO's idiosyncratic "ten day rule" relevant to calculating notified deadlines is being abolished in November. Many a European patent attorney has been thankful for the EPO's ten day rule after receipt of very late instructions to proceed with filing a response. This peculiarity of EPO practice has its origin in the days of postal ...

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2886 Hits

2886 Hits

Plausibility at the EPO - Enlarged Board of Appeal decision G2/21

Monday, 27 March 2023

Super User

Patents

HummingbirdHawkMoth

The long-awaited Enlarged Board of Appeal decision G2/21 has finally been issued. It confirms that evidence submitted in support of inventive step cannot be disregarded solely on the ground that such evidence had not been public before the filing date and was only filed after that date. The background to this Decision and the referral to the E...

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sufficiency EPO Plausibility inventive step evidence

3285 Hits

Practical Tips for Patenting Antibodies in Europe

Wednesday, 08 March 2023

Katherine Ellis

Patents

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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European Patent Office patent antibodies Guidelines EPO

3813 Hits

Developing Drugs for Developing World Diseases: The Role of Patents

Sunday, 05 March 2023

Katherine Ellis

Patents

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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patents Intellectual Property IP Neglected Diseases

3412 Hits

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