A User’s Guide to Patents

Description

DELETE Preface and acknowledgements Abbreviations Table of cases Table of statutes Table of statutory instruments Table of European material Table of international legislation Part I Patents generally Chapter 1 Introduction to the patent system Introduction Relationship of patents to other intellectual property rights A brief history of the patent system Sources of the current patent law in the United Kingdom Patents and patent applications as sources of information Chapter 2 Applying for and securing the grant of a patent Ownership The structure of a patent specification and its claims Applying for a patent in one country Applying for a patent internationally Issues met in relation to patent applications Matters occurring after grant Chapter 3 Transactions with patents and with patent applications Types of transaction Formalities of such transactions Patent licensing generalities Competition law considerations associated with patent licensing Specific patent licence terms – grant and scope of licence Specific patent licence terms – structuring payments for the rights granted Specific patent licence terms – other obligations on licensee Specific patent licence terms – obligations on licensor Specific patent licence terms – other aspects Chapter 4 Procedures in disputes concerning patents Types of dispute concerning patents Attacking the validity of a patent after grant The action for patent infringement in England Other aspects of English patent infringement litigation Patent litigation in other European countries Chapter 5 Patent validity – substantive law Introduction The state of the art for novelty and inventive step and when it is assessed Lack of novelty (anticipation) Lack of inventive step (obviousness) Insufficiency Addition of matter and extension of protection Chapter 6 Patent infringement – substantive law and remedies Types of infringing acts Claim construction and the scope of protection Defences Remedies for patent infringement Part II Patents in specific areas of technology Chapter 7 Patents for chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and agrochemicals Introduction Claims in chemical patents Claims in pharmaceutical patents Validity issues Infringement issues De facto extension of patent protection for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals in the EU by the SPC Regulations Chapter 8 Biotechnology patents Introduction The ‘product of nature’ issue The ‘variety’ and ‘essentially biological processes’ issues Public policy issues Adequacy of description and deposit requirements Infringement issues Chapter 9 Patents in electronics, communications, and computing Introduction Patents and Technical Standards Patents and computer programs Patents and business methods Part III Appendices Appendix 1 Adherence to International Patent Treaties (including latest version acceded to, or the accession date) Appendix 2 Patents Court judgments on validity and infringement since 1997 Appendix 3 Court of Appeal judgments on validity and infringement since 1997 Appendix 4 Further reading Appendix 5 Patent resources on the Internet Appendix 6 Legislative materials Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property (20 March 1883) Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Convention on the Grant of European Patents (EUROPEAN PATENT CONVENTION 2000) Protocol on Jurisdiction and the Recognition of Decisions in Respect of the Right to the Grant of a European Patent (PROTOCOL ON RECOGNITION) of 5 October 1973 Protocol on the Interpretation of Article 69 EPC Regulation (EC) No 1610/96 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 1996 concerning the creation of a supplementary protection certificate for plant protection products Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 May 2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products (codified version) Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions Commission Regulation (EU) No 316/2014 of 21 March 2014 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to categories of technology transfer agreements Patents Act 1977 (as amended) (consolidation produced by Patents Legal Section 1 October 2017) Index