The EU's manufacturing waiver for supplementary protection certificates (SPCs) permits third parties to manufacture medicinal products for export outside the EU, but divergent court interpretations have led to a 2026 CJEU referral. As national courts grapple with notification requirements and stockpiling provisions, the European Commission has announced a public consultation to evaluate whether the waiver has achieved its intended objectives.

Halozyme sought SPC protection across various member states of the European Union (EU), together with the UK, for the combination of trastuzumab and rHuPH20 (recombinant human hyaluronidase PH20).

The issue of "double patenting" arises in the EPO when one applicant files two European patent applications with closely related claims and the same effective filing date.

When IP-protected goods are placed on a particular market by, or with the consent of, the IP right holder, there is a generally accepted legal concept worldwide that the corresponding IP rights...

After your patent application has been filed at one (or more) of the many Patent Offices around the world, it will be processed by that Patent Office.

The aim of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is to provide a way for applicants to use positive examination results from one patent office to streamline prosecution in a second patent office.

The UPC Munich local division's decision (ACT_459746/2023 –available here) on 10x Genomics' first application for a PI against NanoString Technologies provides a valuable insight into the approach...

Electric vehicles (EVs) are at the forefront of the automotive industry's transition towards sustainability. This article examines the lithium-ion technology now dominating the market...

On 12 March 2026, the High Court of England and Wales delivered a landmark judgment regarding the scope of Plant Variety Rights in Nador Cott Protection SAS v Asda Stores Limited.

Recent UPC decisions in Promosome v BioNTech and Gilead v AMMS clarify critical aspects of patent validity practice, including enablement requirements for novelty, the framework for assessing inventive step...

Genetic technologies are methods that customise the genetic code of an organism. In crop science, genetic technologies allow researchers to introduce beneficial traits, for example to confer resistance to pests...

An evolving network of different PPH agreements exists between various patent offices, including most major patent offices.

A patent is a legal monopoly granted by a government in return for public disclosure of an invention. A granted patent gives the proprietor the right to prevent others...

The aim of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is to provide a way for applicants to use positive examination results from one patent office to streamline prosecution in a second patent office.

The aim of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) is to provide a way for applicants to use positive examination results from one patent office to streamline prosecution in a second patent office.

The Unitary Patent (UP) system will open on 1 June 2023. From this date, applicants for European Patents will be able to decide whether the European Patent should become a Unitary Patent...

This document is intended to provide a brief introduction to Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs) for medicinal products. For more detailed information, please see our full briefing on this topic.

Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPCs) for medicinal products are intellectual property rights intended to compensate patent holders for the loss in effective patent term that results ...

As reported previously, courts in both Ireland (in February 2022, concerning Inegy®) and Finland (in November 2021, concerning Janumet®) have recently identified an apparent discrepancy in CJEU case law with...

The issue of "double patenting" arises in the EPO when one applicant files two European patent applications with closely related claims and the same effective filing date.