Daybreak at last! The UPC start date is confirmed

Daybreak at last! The UPC start date is confirmed

We reported in our article of December 2022 that the start date of the Unified Patent Court (“UPC”) had been delayed yet again, this time in view of some difficulties many users were having with acquiring the authentication devices required to access the UPC’s Case...
Gold Standard for Novelty of Subranges

Gold Standard for Novelty of Subranges

Background Historically (pre-2019), a subrange was considered novel over the prior art if the following criteria were met (T198/84 and T279/89): a) The selected subrange is narrower than the known range; b) The selected subrange is sufficiently far removed from any...
Videoconferencing becomes the norm at the EPO

Videoconferencing becomes the norm at the EPO

Background In 2019, the European Patent Office (EPO) set out its Strategic Plan 2023, detailing a series of proposed updates and reforms to its working practices, including changes to its IT systems. At that time, nobody could have predicted just how quickly the EPO...