Mewburn Ellis Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys- Latest News

Latest News for 2008

Mewburn Ellis LLP appoints second Asia Pacific Liaison: We are delighted to welcome Daniel Holt back to the firm. Daniel trained and qualified as a Patent Attorney with Mewburn Ellis before leaving to work and study in China and Hong Kong. Daniel will be one of our Asia Pacific Liaisons, and will be regularly based in Hong Kong enabling him to liaise directly with our clients and contacts in the Asia Pacific region, especially in China. Read full article here.
Published on 4th November 2008
EPO President refers questions to Enlarged Board about software-related inventions: The EPO President Alison Brimelow has referred four questions to the Enlarged Board of Appeal at the EPO. This referral seeks to clarify the current position on the patentability of software inventions and is likely to be of great interest to both the software industry and those in the UK legal profession. Read full article here.
Published on 24th October 2008
UK Court of Appeal Hands Down Judgement on Software Patents: On 8 October 2008, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgement in Symbian v Comptroller General of Patents. The Court of Appeal decided that the claimed method of operating a computer was not excluded from patentability. The Court identified the “contribution” made by the claims as increasing the speed at which a computer operates and said this could not be a computer program as such because it has the effect of “the computer working better as a matter of practical reality”. Read full article here.
Published on 9th October 2008
FICPI Open Forum Florence 8-11 October 2008: Robert Watson will be attending the FICPI Open Forum in Florence from 8-11 October, (http://www.ficpi.org/meetframe.html) and has been invited to give a presentation entitled "Scope of Community Design Protection".

Robert would be happy to meet with any attorneys attending the Forum and can be contacted before hand or during the Forum at robert.watson@mewburn.com. Read full article here.
Published on 9th October 2008
UK Trade Mark Procedural Changes: In order to speed registration, the Opposition period on a UK Trade mark application is reduced to 2 months (but extensible by one further month on request). Also it will not be necessary to file priority documents unless the UKIPO asks for them. Read full article here.
Published on 1st October 2008
Congratulations to our client Speedo!: Congratulations to our client Speedo for the amazing performance of the athletes who wore their ground breaking LZR RACER swimsuit at the Olympics in Beijing, including Speedo sponsored Michael Phelps with his incredible haul of 8 gold medals. Read full article here.
Published on 5th September 2008
Examination Success: We are pleased to announce that Graeme Moore, Christopher Casley, Nadja Muncke and Jonathan Wills have recently passed their examinations and are now qualified European Patent Attorneys. Read full article here.
Published on 6th August 2008
House of Lords Rule on Obviousness: The House of Lords recently delivered their eagerly awaited judgement in Conor Medisystems v Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, reversing the decision of the Court of Appeal and holding Angiotech's patent for a taxol-coated stent to be valid. Read full article here.
Published on 18th July 2008
The London Agreement – Germany and German Translations: An update: There has been uncertainty about the requirement to file a German translation of a European patent granted in English or French in the period 1 May 2008 to 31 August 2008.
The recent entry into force of new German law implementing the London Agreement retroactively from 1 May 2008 means that the requirement to file a German translation is removed (as was expected) for patents granted on or after 1 May 2008. Read full article here.
Published on 18th July 2008
EPO RE-CONSIDER THE SCOPE OF MEDICAL USE CLAIMS UNDER EPC2000: The European Patent Office (EPO) allows claims to new medical uses of known substances where the invention is either (i) the discovery of a new disease against which the substance is effective, or (ii) where the substance is already known to be effective against the disease in question, a new means of treatment (e.g. route of administration). Read full article here.
Published on 24th May 2008
AIPLA (American Intellectual Property Law Association): Partners Stephen Gill and Nick Sutcliffe will be attending the AIPLA Spring Meeting in Houston, Texas from 14 to 16 May and hope to catch up with any clients and friends that are attending. Read full article here.
Published on 16th May 2008
INTA (International Trademark Association) Annual Meeting 17-21 May 2008: Mewburn Ellis partners Roger Grimshaw, Nigel Hackney and Sofia Arenal, together with trademark attorneys Kerry Moroney and Alastair Rawlence will be attending INTA’s 130th Annual Meeting in Berlin, Germany on 17-21 May. Joining them will be Philip Fujii, our Japanese business liaison manager. Read full article here.
Published on 12th May 2008
ERBI’s BioPartnering Exchange Cambridge 7-9 May: Mewburn Ellis partners Nick Sutcliffe and Hilary King, and patent attorney Jonathan Wills are attending ERBI’s BioPartnering Exchange in Cambridge on 7 - 9 May and would be pleased to catch up with any clients and friends that are attending. Read full article here.
Published on 9th May 2008
AIPLA (American Intellectual Property Law Association): Partners Stephen Gill and Nick Sutcliffe will be attending the AIPLA Spring Meeting in Houston, Texas from 14 to 16 May and hope to catch up with any clients and friends that are attending. Read full article here.
Published on 9th May 2008
NEW PARTNERS: The partners of Mewburn Ellis LLP are happy to announce that Rebecca Tollervey, Jeremy Webster, Richard Johnson, Hilary King and Lindsey Woolley have joined the partnership. They are also pleased to welcome Simon Parry to the firm and to the partnership. Simon, who joins us from Forresters, will be based in our Manchester office and brings with him a wealth of experience in a wide range of engineering fields. Read full article here.
Published on 24th April 2008
CIPA prizes for outstanding exam results at Mewburn Ellis LLP: Well done to Julie Carlisle, Patent Attorney, on being awarded the “Proxime Accessit prize” by the CIPA council and to Emily Hayes, Patent Assistant, who has been awarded the “Michael Jones Prize”. Read full article here.
Published on 24th April 2008
THE END OF AN ERA.............: Marilyn Rippon, the longest serving employee of the firm, retires at the end of this month after 44 years of employment. The Partners and staff at Mewburn Ellis LLP wish Marilyn a very happy retirement and would like to thank her for all her hard work and commitment to the firm over the years. Read full article here.
Published on 30th March 2008
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FOR JEWELLERS: On Wednesday 12 March 2008, Mewburn Ellis LLP's Eddie Walker will be giving a talk, on behalf of ChangeActShare, aimed at Jewellers. Read full article here.
Published on 26th March 2008
COMMUNITY TRADE MARK OFFICE TO CHARGE FOR NATIONAL SEARCHES: Form 10 March 2008 OHIM is charging a separate fee for national searches, which become optional. There will automatically continue to be a search for potentially conflicting prior CTMs. Read full article here.
Published on 24th March 2008
EPO FEE INCREASES (AND HOW TO AVOID THEM!): Most EPO official fees will increase by about 5% on 01 April 2008. However, some fees (claims fees and renewal fees) will increase substantially. The new rates will apply to fees paid on or after 01 April 2008. We suggest you consider paying some fees early in order to avoid the increases. Please do contact us if you want to take any action. Read full article here.
Published on 31st January 2008
STOP PRESS!! LONDON AGREEMENT TO ENTER INTO FORCE ON 1 MAY 2008: We are very pleased to announce that France deposited their instrument of ratification of the London Agreement on 29 January, paving the way for reduced costs for translating European patents granted on or after 1 May 2008. Currently, a European patent must be translated after grant into the national language of every country in which protection is sought. Failure to do so results in the patent being deemed void in that country. Translation costs are high and typically account for up to 40% of overall patenting costs in Europe. Signatory states to the London Agreement will waive, entirely or largely, the requirement for translation of patents into their national language. Our information sheet on the London Agreement explains more. Read full article here.
Published on 31st January 2008
AIPLA: Partners Robert Watson and Stephen Carter will be attending the AIPLA Mid-Winter Institute in Phoenix, AZ, January 23-26, 2008 and hope to catch up with any clients and friends that are attending. Do let Robert or Stephen know if you plan to be there. Read full article here.
Published on 26th January 2008