Nice to be Back!
A lot has been going on in intellectual property over the last few months. In patents, the Court of Appeal has given judgment in Macrossan's Application [2006] EWCA 1371 which has led to a new Patent Office practice note on patentable subject matter and has delivered the reasons for its judgment on the rare but very important question of the role of scientific advisors in Halliburton Energy Services Inc v Smith International (North Sea) Ltd. and others [2006] EWCA Civ 1599 (24 Nov 2006). Mr Justice Kitchin has considered whether the matter disclosed in the specification of a patent extended beyond that disclosed in the application as well as issues of novelty and obviousness in Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KGaA v Allergan Inc . [2006] EWHC 2686 (Pat) (30 Oct 2006). Encouragingly for the legal profession, he decided an old fashioned application for an interim injunction in Les Laboratoires Servier and another v KRKA Polska SP Zo.o and another [2006] EWHC 2453 (Pat) (3 Oct 2006) w