Rule 17.3 of the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court: If the action involves a patent having more than one classification, the Registry assigns the action in accordance with Rule 345.3 Rules of Procedure to…
Read more →Rule 192 of the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court: During the International Textile Fair ITMA, which took place from June 8 to June 14, 2023, in Rho, Italy, the patent proprietor and applicant discovered…
Read more →Jan 19, 2024
We are delighted to announce that Matthias Brunner has joined our partnership as of January 2024. Matthias Brunner began his career in our firm in 2014. Since 2017, he has been qualified as a European Patent Attorney…
Read more →Dec 20, 2023
This holiday season, we are proud to extend our support to two remarkable organizations, "Grow Together" and "Dank Dir!", through our annual Christmas donation initiative. "Grow Together" is a non-profit organization in…
Read more →Dec 15, 2023
We are pleased to announce that Rudolf Griss and David Trauner have successfully passed the Austrian patent bar exam and have been entered into the list of Austrian patent attorneys. Both will work for our firm as…
Read more →Nov 15, 2023
Since 1 November 2023, the European Patent Office (EPO) has discontinued the 'Ten Day Rule' applied to various communications, including examination reports. The previous practice was based on former Rule 126 EPC, which…
Read more →Jun 14, 2023
On June 1, 2023, the Unified Patent Court (UPC) started its activities after years of delays, in particular due to two constitutional law suits in Germany. Since that day, the European Patent Office also grants European…
Read more →Jun 1, 2023
It is not possible to determine in general terms how many starting points an opposition division must take into account when examining inventive step as the fictitious closest prior art in the "problem-solution…
Read more →May 22, 2023
If, during the application or opposition proceedings, the applicant or patent proprietor introduced some differences regarding the definition of a certain chemical compound in a claim with respect to the definition in…
Read more →May 12, 2023
The practice so far according to which a sub-range selected from a larger numerical range of the prior art is considered to be novel if (a) the selected sub-range is narrow compared to the known range and (b) the…
Read more →May 2, 2023
The clinical trials were carried out in accordance with the EMEA Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice. These guidelines explicitly require adherence to the prescribed protocol and assurance of drug accountability. This…
Read more →The refusal of a Board of Appeal to decide on a pending request is a fundamental procedural defect within the meaning of Art 112a(2)(d) EPC. In such a case, the decision of the Board of Appeal is to be set aside and the…
Read more →Apr 12, 2023
The requirement that the claims are to be supported by the description does not necessarily mean that all the "embodiments" of the description of a patent application have to be covered by the (independent) claims, i.e.…
Read more →Apr 2, 2023
When examining novelty, the normal rule of claim interpretation of reading a feature specified in a claim in its broadest technically meaningful sense corresponds to determining the broadest scope encompassed by the…
Read more →Mar 23, 2023
The principle according to which any amendments to a party’s appeal case made after notification of a summons to oral proceedings shall not be taken into account (unless the party concerned has shown valid reasons that…
Read more →Mar 13, 2023
If the opponent is the sole appellant against an interlocutory decision maintaining a patent in amended form, an objection of the patent proprietor (as respondent) related to the inadmissibility of the opposition is…
Read more →Mar 8, 2023
Component parts of complex products are also amenable to design protection, provided that they are visible during normal use (in German, the expression “intended use” is used) and the visible features meet the…
Read more →According to the Comvik approach, the non-technical features of a claim may be incorporated into a goal to be achieved in a non-technical field. Subsequently, the approach invokes what might be described as the legal…
Read more →Feb 24, 2023
In quite a remarkable decision of 2019, the Cancellation Division of the EUIPO had revoked one of McDonald's best-known trademarks, the BIG MAC, for reasons of non-use. The trademark BIG MAC had previously been…
Read more →Feb 20, 2023
After many delays, the launch date for the long-awaited European Unitary Patent system is finally set. According to a press release from the German Federal Ministry of Justice, Germany has ratified the Agreement on a…
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