Hands-on commentary on UPC decisions, key developments in IP law, and news from SONN.
Aug 19, 2026
In this decision, the Board of Appeal specifies the procedural requirements for raising added subject-matter objections during appeal proceedings. A mere reference to an embodiment of the original disclosure paired with…
Read more →Aug 17, 2026
In these revocation proceedings, the Central Division Paris addresses the fundamental prohibition against extending the scope of protection to preserve legal certainty for third parties. Article 123(3) of the European…
Read more →This decision addresses the admissibility of post-grant claim amendments for computer-implemented methods with regard to the scope of protection of the patent. If a granted patent claim defines a computer-implemented…
Read more →Aug 7, 2026
In these revocation proceedings, the Central Division Munich addresses the precise requirements for the original disclosure of numerical ranges in composition claims. The patent in suit protects a method for processing…
Read more →In this decision, the Board of Appeal addresses the principles of uniform claim construction, drawing on the landmark decision G 1/24 of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office. The description and…
Read more →This decision specifies the permissible scope of the clarity examination in opposition proceedings following structural amendments to the claims. If a granted dependent claim is completely transferred into an…
Read more →Jun 1, 2026
When drafting patent claims in two-part form, the question of correct delimitation regularly arises. According to Rule 43(1) EPC, the delimitation must be made against the state of the art. However, this does not mean…
Read more →Jun 1, 2026
Proper claim construction is essential for a correct assessment of patent claims. A claim construction that disregards a technically meaningful claim feature is not a good-faith interpretation. Rather, the skilled…
Read more →Aug 11, 2025
The principle that a claimed sub-range must be “narrow” relative to a known range and “sufficiently far removed” from any specific examples in order to confer novelty is, following T 1688/20 (which held that the concept…
Read more →Aug 6, 2025
When assessing whether a combination of features is disclosed in the application as filed, the so-called “gold standard” requires that the combination be directly and unambiguously derivable from the original documents.…
Read more →Mar 13, 2025
Initially, the claimant filed auxiliary requests for a limited defense of the patent in suit, which were restricted to the German part of the European patent. Subsequently, the claimant submitted an amendment request…
Read more →Feb 27, 2025
A request to amend the patent in suit that covers both claims challenged by the revocation action and claims not challenged is (only) inadmissible with respect to the latter claims. In a situation where the patent in…
Read more →Nov 25, 2024
Marc Keschmann achieved a complete revocation of the patent in suit for our client before the EPO Opposition Division and was also successful in the appeal proceedings before the EPO Board of Appeal. The applicant…
Read more →The claimant requested that the Court rule that no further amendments may be filed. The Court sees no legal basis for preventing or categorically excluding the filing of further auxiliary requests or for instructing the…
Read more →Jul 1, 2024
Marc Keschmann obtained a complete declaration of invalidity of the patent in suit for our client before the Nullity Division and was also successful in the appeal proceedings before the Vienna Higher Regional Court.The…
Read more →In application of the decision of the Enlarged Board of Appeal G 3/14, an objection under Article 84 EPC that a claim is not supported by the description is open to examination in opposition or opposition appeal…
Read more →May 22, 2024
This decision concerns an appeal to the Higher Regional Court of Vienna against an interruption order of the Commercial Court of Vienna. The patents-in-suit protect a cooktop which, together with a device for extracting…
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 →Sep 20, 2022
Statements in the description contradicting the plain claim wording may cast doubts as to the intended meaning of this. (Only) under such circumstances, an objection under Article 84 EPC has to be raised (EPO Board of…
Read more →Jun 23, 2022
For the purpose of examining whether the requirement of Art 123 (3) EPC that the European patent shall not be amended in such a way that its scope of protection is extended are complied with, national infringement laws,…
Read more →Dec 29, 2020
If amendments to the application documents which aim to overcome objections of lack of support by the description or lack of clarity which were raised in the summons to the proceedings before the appeal proceedings lead…
Read more →Dec 22, 2017
EU member states all have to amend their trade mark laws in adoption to the new EU Trade Mark Directive until beginning of 2019. Austria has now passed an amendment of its trade mark law, on the one side, to accelerate…
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