Publications

A truly single European patent has been a goal since the development of a European common market in the 1950s. It will provide a level playing field for innovative business in Europe, reduce costs for effective patent protection, and enhance legal certainty and transparency. As a result, innovation

in Europe will be stimulated.

Recent European decisions have provided much to think about for practitioners concerned with DNA sequences. Caroline Pallard and Bart Swinkels investigate.

Ever had the feeling: “That company is using my idea! Does it have the right to do so?” You are not the first to ask this question,

only to realise that your idea has been distributed publicly unprotected, when it could have been protected.

Patent database, suggestion box and source of cooperation

It sounds contradictory. In order to protect your invention, you need to make it public. And yet, that’s what patent legislation is all about. In addition to protecting inventions, one significant objective of the patent right is in fact to share knowledge as part of stimulating innovation.

A patent allows a patentee to prohibit others from commercially exploiting its invention, as defined by the patent claims. When a patentee wishes to exercise this right, it must first establish that the alleged infringer is in fact commercially exploiting a product or process that falls within the scope of protection. This may sound straightforward, but what if the alleged infringer is using an apparatus or a process in secret? In that case, the patentee can prove that a process is being used only by (illegally) acquiring access to the alleged infringer’s premises or by violating its trade secrets. Given this, what options are available for patentees to safeguard their rights?

Negotiations on a new Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) were launched back in 2007 with the aim of creating an international framework to better enforce intellectual property rights. The plan is not to do this by developing new IP rights but rather by seeking international standards on how to take measures against large-scale infringements of these rights. At this stage negotiations are still ongoing. The question is this: from a European perspective, why is this agreement required?

A growing number of biotechnology inventions relate to peptides, oligonucleotides and other small molecules that could be used in therapeutic applications. Caroline Pallard explains the challenges of patenting such inventions.

Two recent decisions mean greater protection for owners of well-known brands, as Kayin Pang explains. On June 18, 2009, the European Court of Justice rendered a decision on a question between L’Oréal and Bellure about profiting from the success of a well-known brand. L’Oréal is the owner of well-known trademarks for perfumes such as Trésor, Miracle, Anaïs-Anaïs and Noa Noa, and owns various trademark registrations for these well-known brands.

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.