Publications

On April 1 2010 the European Patent Convention will be amended in a manner that will have a fundamental impact on IP business and strategy. The implementing regulations of the convention will be amended in regard to the possibility of filing divisional applications. Similarly, the rules on the European search report will also be changed.

In January 2007 the Paediatric Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1901/2006) entered into force. This legislation was created to increase knowledge about the safety and efficacy of medicines in children. The Paediatric Regulation provides for a system of obligations and rewards to promote paediatric research and generation of paediatric data.

Gene patent applicants are considering the implications of an apparent relaxation of the “same invention” requirement for entitlement to priority; while patentability is exercising those involved in stem-cell research.

From April 1 2010, the Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation will raise several bars. First, the bar for filing a divisional application (a divisional) to a pending European application will be raised. This is because the EPO believes that some applicants have abused the divisionals system.

Obtaining patent protection for software can be challenging since

requirements vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction – as historical and prevailing trends in the United States, Europe and China bear out.