EPO Boards of Appeal Approach to Partial Priorities

EPO Boards of Appeal Approach to Partial Priorities

The applications relate to compositions for dental impression materials. Claim 1 of the granted patent read as follows: “A dental impression material comprising a base paste and a catalyst paste, wherein the base paste comprises at least one polymerizable...
Cost Caps at IPEC – Access to Justice for SMEs

Cost Caps at IPEC – Access to Justice for SMEs

The overriding objective of the court system according to the civil procedure rules is that the court is able to deal with cases justly and at proportionate cost. It has long been a concern that justice might be denied to small entities pursuing patent claims because...
A move towards a doctrine of equivalents? – Eli Lilly v Actavis

A move towards a doctrine of equivalents? – Eli Lilly v Actavis

Facts and History On the face of it, the Eli Lilly v Actavis case seems straightforward. Eli Lilly is the proprietor of European patent No. 1313508 which claims:- “Use of pemetrexed disodium in the manufacture of a medicament for use in combination therapy for...
Markush Formulae and SPCs

Markush Formulae and SPCs

Background According to Article 3(a) of the SPC Regulation (European Parliament and Council Regulation 469/2009/EC of 6 May 2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products) an SPC shall be granted for a medicinal product if the product...
T 1852/13 – An End to the ‘Essentiality Test’?

T 1852/13 – An End to the ‘Essentiality Test’?

Background The EPO’s Boards of Appeal have previously used the ‘essentiality test’ to determine whether after the deletion of a claim feature the remaining subject-matter is still in compliance with the content disclosed in the application-as-filed....