patents

Category posts

 

Results of your filters.
Home / Blog (EN) / Archive by category "patents"
Utility model as an element of the patent strategy

Utility model as an element of the patent strategy

In addition to the patent, there is another technical property right, the utility model, which in the past was also referred to as a “small patent”. The utility model enables protection of technical inventions that are new, industrially applicable and based on an inventive step for a maximum protection period of 10 years. Methods are…

Further reading
Caution when presenting your invention prior to a planned patent application in the United States (US)

Caution when presenting your invention prior to a planned patent application in the United States (US)

Unlike in the European Union, there are various countries, such as the United States, that have a grace period for patents, i.e., a period during which an inventor can make the invention public without this disclosure getting in the way of a subsequent filing of a patent application. In the United States, the grace period…

Further reading
Request for examination or search request?

Request for examination or search request?

When a German patent application is filed with the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA), a request for examination is usually filed immediately in order to initiate the examination procedure. As a rule, the applicant then receives the first office communication approximately eight to nine months after the filing date. This procedure is particularly useful…

Further reading
Second law on the modernization of patent law passed

Second law on the modernization of patent law passed

On June 10, 2021, the German Federal Cabinet approved the draft of a second law for the “simplification and modernization” of patent law. Among other things, the bill provides for an amendment to Section 139 of the Patent Act, which governs the right to injunctive relief by the patent proprietor in the event of patent…

Further reading
Attention in case of claiming a priority of a previous application by only some of the previous applicants

Attention in case of claiming a priority of a previous application by only some of the previous applicants

The Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) has commented on this in its decision T 844/18 (Crispr/Cas) and continues its previous line: For an effective claim of priority of an earlier application (with several applicants) by only some of the applicants of this earlier application in the form of a subsequent application,…

Further reading
Protection of know-how and trade secrets in the company

Protection of know-how and trade secrets in the company

On April 26, 2019, the German Act on the Protection of Trade Secrets (GeschGehG) came into force. The law is based on the EU know-how Directive 2016/943 of 08.06.2016. The law strengthens the protection of trade secrets. A very important innovation, however, is that “appropriate secrecy measures” must be taken to ensure that know-how actually…

Further reading
Patentability of plants and animals at the European Patent Office – the decision G 3/19 “Pepper

Patentability of plants and animals at the European Patent Office – the decision G 3/19 “Pepper

In its decision G 3/19 “Pepper” of 14 May 2020, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office decided that European patents will no longer be granted on plants and animals exclusively obtained by means of an essentially biological process (such as breeding and crossing). This is a remarkable departure from its own…

Further reading
Effects of Brexit on European intellectual property rights in the UK

Effects of Brexit on European intellectual property rights in the UK

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit) took place on 31 January 2020, which in part has implications on property rights. Patents With regard to European patents, nothing changes, since the United Kingdom remains a member of the European Patent Convention, which is not Union law but an international treaty to which, for example,…

Further reading