最新ニュース

WE ARE WELL PREPARED...

... thanks to our longtime employee and colleague Elwine Kaschner, who not only teaches our trainees, but also passes on her extensive knowledge of the upcoming "Unitary Patent" and the Unified Patent Court in many trainings internally and externally at Heidelberg Academy.
Thank you very much for that!

UNIFIED PATENT COURT JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS AND PRESIDIUM ELECTIONS

The UPC website has now published the list of 85 appointed judges and the composition of the Presidium.
Mr Klaus Grabinski (DE) will become President of the Court of Appeal and Ms Florence Butin (FR) will be President of the Court of First Instance.

Click here for the article and the other members.

LATEST STATE OF PLAY IN VIEW OF THE LAUNCH OF THE UNIFIED PATENT COURT (UPC)

The UPC shared the implementation roadmap. This roadmap depicts all the key activities and milestones of the UPC in the coming months.

The entry into force of the UPC Agreement is currently planned for 1 April 2023, with the UPC opening its doors and starting to receive cases as from that date.

Please find here the Implementation roadmap.

ALWAYS ON THE LATEST "STATE OF THE ART"...

Right now GSi is training our team in various areas of our trademark and patent management software WiNPAT.
The training is tailored to the specific needs of our departments.
This way we always stay up to date in digitized office world.

CASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - NEW AUTHENTICATION AND ELECTRONIC SIGNATURE

It is published on the website of the UPC that, as of September, the UPC's Case Management System (CMS) login process will be based on a new, strong authentication scheme providing the highest level of security. Instead of the current simple Account/Password-system, an electronic Identification Certificate compliant with EU Regulation No. 910/2014 (eIDAS-Verordnung) will be required. Moreover, a "qualified electronic signature" will be required to electronically sign legal UPC documents.

The implementation will take place in the next release of the UPC CMS v0.65 and will be activated mid or end of September 2022.

For more details please be referred to the website of the UPC:
Case Management System - New authentication and electronic signature | Unified Patent Court (unified-patent-court.org)

The new authentication scheme marks a major milestone in the implementation of the CMS and, hence, a big step forward to the start of the Sunrise Period.

FERRARI WINS ANOTHER RACE – UNREGISTERED DESIGNS IN EU

an article by Dr. Christian Thomas, published in the Japanese Journal "A.I.P.P.I."; Vol. 67, No.7, 2022. Click here for the original document.

EPO NEWS: EPO introduces systematic final search for prior national rights

Prior rights as prior art are limited to European applications in the grant procedure before the EPO. After grant, however, earlier national rights must be taken into account in the validation of the national bundle patent, which is why different claim versions are then possible for the national bundle patent before the substantive examination is completed.

This is of particular importance for the future unitary patent, as only one uniform claim version can exist here. This claim version should therefore also take account of existing earlier rights before grant.

The EPO therefore offers applicants an additional service to help them decide whether to file separate sets of claims. The examining division will search for prior national rights, assess their prima facie relevance and communicate the citations of all prima facie relevant national rights in a notice of intention to grant (Rule 71(3) EPC). On this basis, applicants may assess in detail any national right opposed.

RECOMMENDED AGAIN

IAM 1000 has recommended us again:
"The reliable team of 20 at KUHNEN & WACKER – which includes patent attorneys, attorneys-at-law and engineers – can be relied upon for everything from portfolio management to freedom-to-operate analyses and due diligence projects. For more than 40 years it has served the needs of a varied clientele, which includes promising start-ups as well as some of the main names in the electronics and automotive sectors. Key among its battalion of specialists are senior partners Rainer Kuhnen and Stephan Kopp."

EPO STUDY ON THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF INTRODUCING A GRACE PERIOD IN EUROPE

German patent law provided for a grace period until 1978. The US still has it today.
Since the EPC (and all national European patent systems) do not provide for a grace period, but are based on the absolute concept of novelty, the possible introduction of a grace period is a recurring topic in the debate on harmonisation of substantive patent law.

Most recently, the EPO published a study on the subject.
The aim of the study is to inform the current debates on this topic by providing an evidence-based assessment of the potential economic impact of introducing a grace period in Europe.

Here is the full study and a summary of the key findings (English only).

SAVE THE DATE

for our 32nd EUROPEAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SEMINAR from October 2 to 5, 2022 on site in Freising.

More information will follow soon! We look forward to welcoming you then!