Patent in UK Law
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Synthon BV v Smithkline Beecham Plc (No.2)
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If I may summarise the effect of these two well-known statements, the matter relied upon as prior art must disclose subject-matter which, if performed, would necessarily result in an infringement of the patent. That may be because the prior art discloses the same invention. In that case there will be no question that performance of the earlier invention would infringe and usually it will be apparent to someone who is aware of both the prior art and the patent that it will do so.
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Catnic Components Ltd and Another v Hill and Smith Ltd
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A patent specification should be given a purposive construction rather than a purely literal one derived from applying to it the kind of meticulous verbal analysis in which lawyers are too often tempted by their training to indulge.
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Mölnlycke A.B. v Procter & Gamble Ltd
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Conversely the English court could not entertain a claim for the infringement of a German patent. English patent law as embodied in the Patents Act 1977 is founded on international convention, not just European Community convention, but, subject to certain special provisions of the Act, its application by the English court is a matter of English law.
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Seager v Copydex Ltd
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It depends on the broad principle of equity that he who has received information in confidence shall not take unfair advantage of it. He must not make use of it to the prejudice of him who gave it without obtaining his consent. He should go to the public source and get it: or, at any rate, not be in a better position than if he had gone to the public source. He should not get a start over others by using the information which he received in confidence.
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Windsurfing International Inc. v Tabur Marine (Great Britain) Ltd
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Thereafter, the court has to assume the mantle of the normally skilled but unimaginative addressee in the art at the priority date and to impute to him what was, at that date, common general knowledge in the art in question. Finally, the court has to ask itself whether, viewed without any knowledge of the alleged invention, those differences constitute steps which would have been obvious to the skilled man or whether they require any degree of invention.
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Generics (UK) Ltd v H Lundbeck A/S
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Paragraph [45] is, to my mind, key. The question of obviousness must be considered on the facts of each case. The court must consider the weight to be attached to any particular factor in the light of all the relevant circumstances. These may include such matters as the motive to find a solution to the problem the patent addresses, the number and extent of the possible avenues of research, the effort involved in pursuing them and the expectation of success.
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Biogen Inc. v Medeva Plc
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His expressed findings are always surrounded by a penumbra of imprecision as to emphasis, relative weight, minor qualification and nuance ( as Renan said, la v�rit� est dans une nuance), of which time and language do not permit exact expression, but which may play an important part in the judge's overall evaluation.
- The Patents (European Patent with Unitary Effect and Unified Patent Court) Order 2016
- Letters Patent Act 1571
- The Patents (European Patent with Unitary Effect and Unified Patent Court) (Repeal and Revocation) Regulations 2021
- The Senedd Cymru (Letters Patent and Proclamations) Order 2021
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Patent strategizing
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to further the development of strategic thinking, relevant for both academics and practitioners, about a key asset in the knowledge economy: patents. Design/m...
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The European Patent Office and its patent information policy
The European patent information policy of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) derives from a 1988 decision of the Administrative Council of the EPO. The intent of the policy is to improve access...
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STUDIES ON PATENT CITATION NETWORKS
Work is described on patent citation networks, a novel technique for displaying the history of technological subjects and their key turning points. The method accurately identifies the key patents ...
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OBSOLESCENCE OF THE PATENT LITERATURE
Patents deserve bibliometric study both for their own sake and because their formality can be exploited. Here the year by year issue of US patents since 1836 is used to correct for growth their app...