Following Italy’s change of direction in relation to the Unitary patent and UPC in May 2015, the Italian government has now formally notified the Council of the EU of its intention to participate in the enhanced cooperation regime, i.e. the EU Regulations concerning the creation of a European patent with unitary effect and the establishment of the applicable translation arrangements for the Unitary patent.
The following report has appeared on the UPC official website:
At the meeting, which was held at the Netherland permanent representation to the EU, the Committee agreed the Rules for the European Patent Litigation Certificate. The Rules will be published shortly on this website.
Furthermore the Committee concluded the discussions on the Protocol on the Provisional Application and will prepare the formal signature procedure. The Committee also took the opportunity to congratulate Portugal on its ratification of the Agreement.
The Preparatory Committee will convene next on 19 October 2015.
In February 2015 the Ministry of Employment and Economy of Finland set up a Working Group to prepare the ratification of the Unified Patent Court Agreement. The Working Group has now published, as instructed, a draft for a Government Bill, to be considered in autumn 2015, on the adoption of the Agreement by Finland, focusing on how its provisions will be brought into force in the country and on how national legislation would be amended to align it with the provisions of the Agreement. According to the Working Group, the legislative provisions of the Agreement would be made part of national legislation by means of a special legislative act to that effect. Moreover, the Patent Code, the Criminal Code, the Code of Judicial Procedure, the Enforcement Code and a number of other laws would be amended, as necessary.
The Working group was not tasked to provide an opinion on whether Finland should actually ratify the United Patent Court Agreement, or on the timing of any such ratification, but it is understood that Finland is likely to ratify by the end of 2015. With the Netherlands, Lithuania, Italy and Estonia also rumoured to be progressing toward ratification in the coming months, it appears likely that by the time the UK is due to ratify in spring 2016, enough countries (10) in addition to the three mandatory countries (Germany, France and the UK) will have ratified to enable the UPC to come into existence. If so, and with France having ratified last year, the position of Germany will be key. It is believed to be starting the ratification process in autumn 2015. Of course, both the UK and Germany are expected to hold back deposit of their instruments of ratification until the UPC is ready from a practical perspective.
This was the question posed in Smith & Nephew’s application for a declaration of non-infringement for their silverised wound dressing.
When considering the question, ‘What is the true construction of “between 1% and 25%”?’, at first instance, Mr Justice Birss applied the ‘significant figures’ approach. It was determined that the range “1-25” means “0.95-25.5” and does not include 0.77, thus concluding no infringement. The Court of Appeal disagreed, however, and used a ’rounding-up’ approach to determine that “1-25” means “0.5-25.5”, thus concluding infringement.
This decision presents interesting options when drafting a patent application, and careful consideration should be taken when choosing the number of significant figures provided in the description. In prosecution it seems that simply reciting a lower limit of e.g. “1” in a claimed range where there is basis for reciting “1” or “1.0”, might provide broader claim scope.
In opposition, there might be potential added-matter issues if a claim recites a lower limit of e.g “1.0”, and there is only basis for a lower limit of “1”. If a range with a lower limit of “1” indeed is a broader range than one with a lower limit of “1.0”, it would be impermissible to amend “1.0” to “1”, and it may therefore not be possible to remove the added-matter without significantly limiting the claimed range.
The full decision can be found at: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2015/607.html
It has been announced that the UPC London Division will be based in Aldgate.
Tie International Business Plan Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious business-plan and start up competitions. Companies that get through can gain exposure, prize money, and support. The competition is open to both students and non student teams, and is split into two streams. For more information please see the link below.
http://tie.org/tie-international-start-up-competition-us/
Innovative businesses based in the UK are entitled to pay significantly reduced corporation tax. Many business leaders are unaware of how generous the UK Patent Box scheme can be, or they simply assume that they won’t qualify.
With planned changes to the Patent Box scheme due to come into effect from next year, regardless of who wins the General Election, now is the time to check whether your innovation could qualify you for reduced taxation.
Patent Box is not a tax avoidance scheme, it’s a UK Government sponsored programme designed to give financial rewards to the UK’s most innovative businesses and incentivise them to keep on creating more innovation. If you already qualify for R&D tax credits, then there’s a good chance that you could also qualify for Patent Box, since the two programmes are designed to work together.
The current UK Patent Box scheme provides for a generous 10% corporation tax rate on profits derived from UK, EPO and certain other European patents. Profitable businesses already holding patents or with patents applied for should have opted into the scheme, or at least have investigated what their tax savings could be within the scheme.
Businesses who perhaps have not filed for patents in the past should seriously consider their patent and innovation strategy in the near future if they want to qualify.
Since the scheme launched in 2013 we have helped a large number of clients to file strategic patent applications in order to maximise their tax benefits, in addition to protecting their Intellectual Property.
It has recently been announced that the generous regime will be changing from July 2016, although importantly companies that qualify before this date can still benefit until 30 June 2021 from grandfathering of the current rules.
With the start of the new Tax Year, now is a good time to think about whether you can qualify. Innovative groups need to be thinking about:
• Their patent strategy and what patents they could hold
• Where their R&D functions are undertaken
• The impact of the regime on new product launches
Carol Johnson, formerly at HMRC and now a senior manager on the Innovation Reliefs & Incentives team at KPMG, has said “Businesses should be reviewing their position now, to see whether they can benefit from the current regime and grandfathering before the rules
change in 2016.”
If you are uncertain about Patent Box, and whether you might qualify, or even what’s involved in making a claim, Mathys & Squire have a dedicated team to help you plan your Patent Box strategy. We will be happy to provide an initial free of charge consultation to any business which has questions about Patent Box.
Portugal has become the 8th country to deposit it’s instrument of ratification of the UPC.
In Cambridge, we are proud to sponsor Charles Cousins, elite British Rower, who is working hard towards his goal to win gold in Rio 2016.
Charles comments, “My dream is to win an Olympic Gold medal, and through support from Mathys & Squire and a few other sponsors I am one step closer. The workman is always more important than the tool. However, in this game, where races can be won or lost by 0.01 of a second, the best tools can help. Now that I have one of the best boats (in my opinion) there is no excuse not to go out there and win some races”
We have been following Charles’ amazing achievements, and look forward to working with him in the future.
Trading, planning on trading, or manufacturing in the UAE? Protect your mark now.
The UAE is already a notoriously expensive country in which to pursue protection and it has now been brought to our attention that the Government of the UAE plans to increase official fees associated with IP protection from 29 May 2015 onwards. For trade mark protection, this will mean a 100% increase.
If you have commercial interests in the UAE market (current or future), we would advise that you seek trade mark protection as soon as possible so as to avoid these increased fees.
We of course can organise protection on your behalf and so please contact us now if you have an
interest in pursuing this.
