Understanding Patent Applications and Methods for Best Approaches in Europe and the U.S.
Yesterday, in the Emotional Perception appeal, the UK Supreme Court has replaced the Aerotel test for patentability with the “any hardware” approach used by the EPO (as approved by the Enlarged Board of Appeal in G1/19),...more
On January 13, USPTO announced the design of SPARK, a new pilot program to incentivize meaningful participation by U.S. small and medium-sized businesses, universities, and non-profits in standards development organizations...more
Welcome to our latest briefing, in which we look back at Unified Patent Court (UPC) developments in the last six months (July to December 2025) since our last briefing (The UPC Two Years On – published July 2025) and consider...more
On October 24, 2025, the Local Division Paris of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) issued its decision in Raccords et Plastiques Nicoll v. First Plast, dismissing claims for literal infringement and infringement by equivalence...more
In an email USPTO Alert that was distributed this afternoon, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced that its offices will be closed on December 24 and December 26. Because December 25 is listed as one of eleven...more
While the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Amgen's functionally defined anti-PCSK9 antibody claims based on its high bar for enablement, the European Patent Office ("EPO") found such broad antibody claims allowable. Amgen's battle...more
The UPC Court of Appeal has now provided clear guidance on how the UPC should determine whether a patent involves an inventive step. This endorses the “holistic” approach, establishing what the invention contributes to the...more
Patent prosecution can be full of surprises, sometimes unpleasant. Kilpatrick’s Steve Borgman recently presented “Traps for the Wary: Patent Prosecution Pitfalls Around the World” at the 30th Annual University of Texas...more
Regulatory - European Commission adopts rules for joint clinical assessments of medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices - On 17 October 2025, the European Commission (EC) adopted Implementing Regulation...more
The explosive growth of artificial intelligence has created unprecedented challenges for patent protection. While AI may be "the most transcendent and transformative technology of our time," as USPTO Director John Squires...more
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a fixture across a broad range of technological fields, AI technology continues to evolve at rapid rates. This highly compressed development lifecycle for AI products presents novel...more
Across the Atlantic, the European Union (EU) and its member states have also been encouraging climate-resilient agri-tech innovation, but their approach to intellectual property (IP) incentives has been a bit different. The...more
For U.S. startups developing innovative technology, the decision of where and how to file international patents requires a careful balance of strategic considerations versus costs. After filing your initial U.S. application,...more
Beginning in October 2025, the European Patent Office (EPO) will accept patent drawings in color or grayscale when filed electronically. By allowing more detailed and visually accurate representations, this change enhances...more
As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies increasingly generate content, designs, code, inventions, and even music, businesses face a pressing legal question: who owns the output when a machine creates it? The legal...more
The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued a new decision – G 1/24 – addressing the diverging approaches to claim interpretation when assessing patentability. Following this decision, the...more
Key Takeaways: - The Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) of the European Patent Office (EPO) issued its opinion in G1/24 on June 18, 2025 resolving divergent case law on how patent claims should be interpreted at the EPO. - The...more
On June 1, 2025, the Unified Patent Court marked its second anniversary - we are one of very few firms that has top-tier patent litigators in all major EU jurisdictions and the UK – we’ve been defending clients in...more
In a recent decision the Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) has for the first time addressed the use of AI to support arguments on claim interpretation, in this case deciding that ChatGPT cannot be used as a...more
UPC case law on the assessment of inventive step is still evolving. Most local division (LD) decisions have indicated a slightly diverging practice from the EPO’s problem-solution approach. However, more recently, others have...more
The European Patent Office (EPO) provides reductions to many of the official fees due during the grant procedure of a European patent application. These reductions can significantly reduce the total costs of bringing a...more
With nearly 800 cases adjudicated or pending thus far at the Unified Patent Court (UPC), a possible procedural gap has appeared in the European patent system: no clear legal mechanism currently exists to resolve conflicting...more
Modern gene-editing technology, such as CRISPR/Cas technology, represents a ground-breaking advancement that has transformed our genetic engineering capabilities and has enormous potential for revolutionising medicine, food...more
As expected, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is raising its fees this year, effective January 19, 2025. However, the USPTO is doing something a little unusual this time—they’re raising the cost of filing...more
Less than two months after CVC made the surprising move to revoke two of its seminal European CRISPR patents, Sigma-Aldrich has done it too. While the facts that led to Sigma’s “self” revocation may be different than CVC’s,...more