HOFFMANN EITLE QUARTERLY
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March 2025
- Making the Fictional Skilled Person Real: The First Oral Examination of Expert Witnesses at the UPC
- Shall It Be Kept Secret? Strategic IP Considerations
- The New Face of EU Designs
- Hoffmann Eitle’s Significant Contributions to the Development of European Case Law in 2024
- On Thin Ice: Adding an Embodiment and Saving the Priority
- Intervention During EPO Appeal Proceedings: G 3/04 Called Into Question
- BSH v Electrolux – The Gateway to a New Age of Cross-Border Litigation?
- Euro Law Conference & Training Course – Munich, June 2025
December 2024
- Inventorship for AI-Assisted or AI-Generated Inventions in Europe and the U.S.
- Is Obtaining New Data From Measured Data Inventive? The Board in T 1741/22 Says Likely No
- J 1/24: Filing a Divisional After Grant at the EPO
- DOE at the UPC
- EU Competition Law: Teva Fined €462.6 Million for “Playing the Divisionals Game” and Disparagement Campaign
September 2024
- Subsequent Request For Patent Amendment as a Defence in UPC Revocation Actions
- At the Front-Line of Europe’s New Patent Court: the First Hearing of a Main Action at the UPC Paris LD
- The UPC Takes an EPO-Inspired but Independent Approach on Validity
- Hamburg LD on UPC PI Proceedings: The EPO’s View Matters
- Shall I Stay or Shall I Go – How to Interpret Claims Before the EPO
- Inconsistencies in the Application of the EPO Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal Concerning Case Amendments
- Emotional AI Is Nothing to Get Excited About, Rules UK Court of Appeal
June 2024
- UPC: One Year of the New European Patent Court System
- CRISPR-Cas Gene Scissors Are Set to Cut Their Way Through EU Regulation on Genetically Modified Plants
- AI Patents in Europe: Relevance of Training Data and Providing Plausible Evidence
- The UKIPO Clarifies the Requirements for Representing Animated Designs
- “Glück vs. LieBee”: Emotional Keywords Unenforceable in Germany Under Unfair Competition Law
- Device or Pharmaceutical Composition: T 1252/20 Proposes Broader Applicability of Medical Use Claims at the EPO
March 2024
- New EU Legislation Proposals (Part III): Centralised Examination Procedure for SPCs
- New EU Legislation Proposals (Part IV): Regulation for a Union Compulsory License
- The European General Court Keeps the Vespa Moving: Protection of a 3D Trademark
- The Skilled Person Uses “They/Them” Pronouns, and Why You Should Care
- Hoffmann Eitle’s Significant Contributions to the Development of European Case Law in 2023
- EPO Amends the Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal (RPBA)
- Electronic Signatures Accepted Again: The EPO Reacts Quickly After J 5/23
- UPC CoA Revokes Provisional Injunction Against NanoString
December 2023
- AI in the UK – Not Coded by a Human, No Problem
- G1/22 and G2/22: The EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal Decision on the Entitlement to Priority
- Double Trouble: Double Patenting at the EPO
- When Does an Application Fail the Controversial New EPO Plausibility Test
- Preservation of Evidence as a Provisional Measure Under the UPCA
September 2023
- New EU Legislation Proposals (Part I): A First Look at the Draft SEP Regulation
- New EU Legislation Proposals (Part II): Creation of a New SPC Landscape for Europe
- “Eieiei”: Stating the Obvious Is Not a Trademark Infringement
- Referral G 1/23: The Public Availability of Products in a New Light
- Amendment of the Description Before the EPO: Possible Referral to the Enlarged Board of Appeal
- T 695/18: To Err is Humane; to Forgive, Divine
- Proposed Amendments to the EPO Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal: A Critical Analysis
- In Provisional Injunction Proceedings, German Courts Can Disregard an EPO Board of Appeal’s Opinion
June 2023
- Patenting Computer-Implemented Inventions in the Mechanical Field is (Almost) Easy
- Patenting Quantum Computing Technologies in Europe and the U.S.
- Louboutin Shoes: Amazon’s Responsibility for Third-Party Offers
- G 2/21: The End of "Plausibility"?
- When Can a German Nullity Action Be Brought During Pending Opposition?
March 2023
- Driven by Technology: Patenting AI Before the European Patent Office (Part IV)
- Pre-published Clinical Trials: A Sudden Death for Second Medical Use Claims?
- The EU Clinical Trials Regulation: Implications of the New Transparency Rules on Patenting
- New Administrative Procedures for Invalidity and Revocation of Italian Trademark Registrations
- Opposition to French Patents - A First Assessment
- Late-Filed Inventive Step Submissions - Lessons from T 1042/18
- Abolition of the EPO's "Ten-Day Rule": Simplification and Closing of Gaps
December 2022
- Driven by Technology: Patenting AI Before the European Patent Office (Part III)
- Amendments After Grant and Indirect Infringement - "Broader Protection" Due To Narrower Scope?
- Genome Editing and Morality at the EPO
- "BLESSED": Owning a Trade Mark Is Not Always a Blessing
- History and Entanglement of "Spezi" Trademark; Paulaner's "Spezi" Will Remain on Market for Now
- Plausibility and G2/21
- Preliminary Injunction Proceedings in Germany - New Opportunities for Patentees in Munich?
- The UPC Might Not Be Quite Ready Yet, but You Can Be - the Practitioner's Handbook
September 2022
- Driven by Technology: Patenting AI Before the European Patent Office (Part II)
- Cross-Border Effects From Dutch Courts Without Local Patent Infringement
- The History and Entanglement of the “Spezi” Trademark; What did Riegele and Paulaner Agree Back Then?
- The German Patent Double Protection Prohibition and the UPCA: New Aspects to Consider
- When Are Products "Available to the Public" in the Sense of Art. 54(2) EPC?
- Amendment of the Description before the EPO: An Update
June 2022
- Driven by Technology: Patenting AI Before the European Patent Office (Part I)
- Marking Your IP Territory
- Will the EUIPO Lower Its Threshold for Assessing Word Marks on Absolute Grounds?
- Trademarks in the “Metaverse”
- Opting Out but Staying In – The Risk of Ineffective Opt-Outs From the UPC
- The ECJ Rules on Requirement of Validity of Asserted Patent in Provisional Injunction Proceedings
March 2022
- The EPO Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal (RPBA)
- Teva v Bayer - UK High Court Decides New Salt Form is Obvious
- LEGO: General Court, Judgment of 24 March 2021 - T 515/19
- Amendment of the Description at the EPO
- Update on Entitlement to Priority under the European Patent Convention
- Changes in Germany and Italy to the National Phase of PCT Applications
- Preparing for the UPC: What to do when
December 2021
- The EPO Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal (RPBA)
- Recent EPO Case Law on Sufficiency: How Much Disclosure is Enough?
- Speculative Examples at the EPO - a Road to Nowhere?
- Three-Dimensional Trademarks in the European Union
- Clarity of Claims at the EPO: Pursuing Broad Claims Without Being Vague
- UPC Update: Austria’s Federal Council Approved Ratification of the PPA
September 2021
- Time to Dust off Strategic Plans for the Unitary Patent?
- Establishing Inventive Step of Medical Use Claims at the EPO
- The European Court of Justice Expands the Registrability of Trademarks
- Additional Remuneration for Employees’ Inventions Made in France
- Biological Sequence Data: XML is the New TXT
- G 1/21 – Oral Proceedings by Videoconference at the EPO
June 2021
- Formal Right to Priority under the EPC
- Changes to German Patent Act
- Protectability of a Product both as a Design and as a Patent
- G 1/19 – Computer-Implemented Simulations at the EPO
- Oral Proceedings in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic – An Update
- Licensing or Selling German IPR can Cause Tax Liability in Germany
