NIPC Law

Jane Lambert Patents Court  (HH Judge Hacon)  Philip Morris Products SA and another v Nicoventures Trading Ltd and another  [2023] EWHC 2616 (Pat) (25 Oct 2023) This was a claim by Philip Morris Products SA and Philip Morris Limited ("PMI") for the revocation of European patent (UK) 3 367 830 B1  ("EP830") and a counterclaim by Nicoventures Trading Limited and British American Tobacco (Investments)  Limited ("BAT") for the infringement of that patent.  There was also an application by BAT to amend the patent and an application by PMI for an Arrow declaration. These proceedings came on for trial before His Honour Judge Hacon sitting as a judge of the High Court between 21 and 23 and on 27 and 28 Sept, 2023.  The learned judge delivered judgment on 25 Ocr 2023 (see  Philip Morris Products SA and another v Nicoventures Trading Ltd and another [2023] EWHC 2616 (Pat) (25 Oct 2023)). By para [216] of his judgment he dismissed the counterclaim....

Jane Lambert A rather more interesting Brexit Briefing this month  because the UK has ratified the Unified Patent Court Agreement.  The article sets out the background to ratification and considers whether it will make a difference.  Also discussed are the proposals to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and indications that HMG will accept the backstop arrangements for birder checks between Great Britain and both parts of the island of Ireland set out in the draft withdrawal agreement notwithstanding political and constitutional challenges to which that could lead. Finally, there is the agenda for discussions on the future partnership between the UK and EU after Brexit which would include services and some encouraging remarks about the city of London from Monsieur Barnier at the Eurofi High Level Seminar in Sofia on 26 April 2018. More

Jane Lambert The European IPR Helpdesk , an EU-funded collaboration between Infeurope SA , Eurice GmbH  and  L'Institut de la Propriété Intellectuelle Luxembourg  to provide free, first-line advice and information on intellectual property, has recently published two fact sheets on IP and trade fairs. The first, which is entitled  Intellectual property management at trade fairs ,  is addressed to exhibitors at, and visitors to, trade fairs while the second,  IP considerations for trade fair organisers , is addressed to organizers. Both fact sheets were developed in co-operation with the European Major Exhibition Centres Associaton  and the European Exhibition Industry Alliance, Intellectual property management at trade fairs starts with "Things you should know before participating in a trade fair." These include "Knowing the IPRs you own", "Registration is the easiest and most effective way to fight against infring...

As I said in How the Intellectual Property Act 2014 changes British Patent Law   21 June 2014 JD Supra, the most important provision of the Intellectual Property Act 2014  is s.17  which inserts a new s.88A into the Patents Act 1977. That section confers power on the Secretary of State to make provision in the UK for the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court . Why is that agreement important? It is because art 1 establishes a court common to almost all the countries of the European Union including the UK for the settlement of disputes relating to European patents and European patents with unitary effect ("Unitary patents").  That court will be known as the Unified Patent Court ("UPC") and it will consist of a Court of First Instance and a Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal will sit in Luxembourg but the Court of First Instance will have a central division with Paris with sections in London and Munich. In addition there will be regional and local divisi...