Features - January 2010
Biotech business strategies
Faced with the escalating pressures of rising healthcare costs, rapidly-ageing populations and the growing need for more advanced biotechnology therapies, most industrialised countries are looking to follow-on biologics (FOB)...
How thinly can you slice an invention?
“It is an accepted principle in most patent systems that two patents cannot be granted to the same applicant for one invention.” So say the Guidelines for Examination in the EPO 1 , and the principle is justifiable...
Competition - setting the standard
As the world becomes smaller, as communications and movement of people become faster and more frequent, and as technology forms an evermore pervasive and indispensable part of our lives, standards are becoming increasingly...
Case Comment - January 2010
Inventor compensation issue takes a fresh twist
The issue of employee-inventor compensation has once more hit the headlines, following the recent judgment in Shanks v Unilever plc and others. This decision could leave employers in a worse position if they assign or license a...
Defendants in deep water over decimal point
The recent judgment of Mr Justice Kitchin in Molynlycke Health Care AB (Molynlycke) against Wake Forest University and Wake Forest University Health Services (together “Wake Forest") 1 will no doubt send shivers down the...
Virgin berth in claim of two halves
In reversing a decision of the Patents Court that a Virgin Atlantic Airways patent relating to flat-bed aircraft seats was not infringed by manufacturer Premium Aircraft Interior UK’s seats, the Court of Appeal addressed...
News - January 2010
EU patent finally on the horizon
EUROPE – The dream of a pan-European patent came a step closer after EU ministers agreed a deal to create a new specialised litigation system and a single European Union-wide patent. The unanimous deal was reached at a...
EU drops antitrust charges against Rambus
EUROPE - The European Union’s top regulator has accepted a commitment from chip maker Rambus to cut royalties worldwide on certain patents for five years to settle antitrust charges. The European Commission, which was...
Court rules Virgin infringed invalid patents
UNITED KINGDOM - The High Court in the UK has given a mixed verdict in a patent infringement case against Virgin Media, ruling that although it infringed the patents in question, those patents were invalid to begin with. ...
People Watch - January 2010
Ann Wright appointed chief executive new UK IP Regulator
UNITED KINGDOM – Ann Wright, a solicitor from Blackheath in south east London, has been named chief executive of the Intellectual Property Regulation Board (IPReg), the recently-formed regulator for the intellectual...
Joris van Manen to join Howrey’s Amsterdam Office
NETHERLANDS – Joris van Manen, formerly a partner at the Dutch law firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, has joined Howrey as a partner in the firm’s Amsterdam office. His practice will include trademark, copyright...
Patent attorney Mike Barlow awarded OBE
UNITED KINGDOM – Mike Barlow, a patent attorney for over 20 years, has been made an OBE in the 2010 New Year’s honours list, for his services to intellectual property. Barlow, who now runs IP consultancy Fairoaks,...
