The EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal has issued its decision in case G2/08 (dosage regimes). As well as confirming the current practice of the EPO, whereby a novel dosage regimen can confer novelty on a 'second medical use' claim, the Board ruled that 'Swiss' form second medical use claims (i.e. 'use of compound X in the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of disease Y') are no longer to be considered allowable under the EPC.

The EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal has now issued its decision in case G4/08 (language of the proceedings). The Board confirmed that, in the case where a PCT application was filed, and published, in an EPO official language (English, French or German), this language automatically becomes the official 'language of the proceedings' at the EPO. The language of the proceedings cannot be changed by filing a translation on entry to the European regional phase, nor can it be changed on the request of the applicant.

The EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal has issued its decision in case G1/07 (surgical methods). The Board had been asked to consider whether the inclusion of any physical intervention in a claimed method led that method to be excluded from patentability, regardless of whether the step was not per se aimed at maintaining life and health. In their decision, the EBA stopped short of saying that 'surgery' must involve therapy for the exclusion to apply. The Board further confirmed that multi-step methods are not patentable if they include a single step that falls within the exclusion. However the Board set out a new, narrower approach to the meaning of "treatment by surgery".

Renewal fees payable to the European Patent Office and the UK Intellectual Property Office are increasing from early April 2010 and therefore, it may be preferable to pay renewal fees due after the fee increase before April 2010 to take advantage of the current lower fees. 

Two recent CFI decisions have been reviewed by our trade marks team.

The decision regarding CTM registration for CANNABIS (case T-234/06) contains a useful summary on what constitutes descriptiveness.

The decision relating to validity of the TRUBION mark in light of an earlier registration of TriBion Harmonis gives a number of useful reminders that certain elements in complex composite marks have greater dominance than others.

Several recent patents cases in the UK High Court have been reviewed and are now summarised on our website.

We are pleased to announce that our Training Course on the European Patent will run again from 14 to 25 June 2010.  Our two-week course provides an in-depth study of the legal and practical aspects of working with the EPC and EPO, with optional additional workshops on other aspects of intellectual property.

On 14 January 2010 Lord Justice Jackson published his final report on the costs of civil litigation in the UK, following an extensive review of the current situation. The Report aims to provide a comprehensive set of reforms to control costs and promote access to justice.   In relation to IP matters, the focus is primarily on the role of the Patents County Court, and a range of recommendations are made aimed at increasing the usefulness and accessibility of the PCC for smaller value IP disputes.

Montenegro is shortly to become the latest EPC extension state. From 1 March 2010 it will be possible to extend the protection conferred by European patent applications and patents to Montenegro.

The BBC is now accepting applications for the new (8^th) series of Dragons’ Den.  They are searching for inventions or business ideas with serious business potential that are investment ready and looking for funding.