The (European) WARF Decision

The (European) WARF Decision

The WARF decision is out: the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) has held that the WARF invention required, at the time of filing, destruction of an embryo. Whatever the claims covered, this inevitable embryo destruction meant the application had to be refused. The...
Human stem cell inventions

Human stem cell inventions

The European “WARF” Decision – G02/06 – changed examination practice at the European Patent Office in relation to inventions involving human ES cells. Rule 28 EPC 2000 provides that European patents shall not be granted in respect of...
The CJEU decision in Brüstle v Greenpeace e.V. (C-34/10)

The CJEU decision in Brüstle v Greenpeace e.V. (C-34/10)

Brüstle v. Greenpeace e.V. (C-34/10) concerns a patent held by Professor Oliver Brüstle, who is the director of the Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology at the University of Bonn. His research includes treating neurological disease by transplanting neural stem...
The First Glimmers after the Doom of the Brüstle Decision

The First Glimmers after the Doom of the Brüstle Decision

Concern and apprehension have been rife for patentees and practitioners alike in light of the Brüstle decision, which set out the CJEU’s decision as to what is and what is not excluded from patentability by the morality provisions of the Biotech Directive. Even...