Patents

The Commission and the European Patent office are taking action to eradicate underhand tactics for keeping generic drugs off the market.

David Alcock of the Patent Attorneys D Young & Co addresses concerns that a recent patent judgment undermines the concept of evergreening, even though Tate & Lyle’s US patents to Sucralose are valid.

The world’s five major patent offices are to join forces to banish duplication, make examination procedures more efficient and improve international patent rights.

The long-running row over software patenting has finally been referred to the highest appeals body of the European Patent Office.

The US and European patent offices have launched a trial of the Patent Prosecution Highway, a scheme they say will speed up the granting of patents.

Increased patent filings China, South Korea and the US drove growth in worldwide filing of patent applications to 1.76 million in 2006 a 4.9 percent increase over 2005.

The UK High Court issued its judgment Eli Lilly & Co v Human Genome Sciences Inc, the first UK case to decide the validity of a gene sequence patent discovered through bioinformatics.

After frowning on the idea of avoiding patent litigation through arbitration, the European Commission appears to have changed its mind.

Just under a year since the last suit was settled Bavarian Nordic is going back to court, seeking a slice of a lucrative cancer vaccine deal.

Two days were reserved by the European Patent Office to hear an appeal over the application for a stem cell patent. But only one was needed in the end.