News articles relating to recent developments in intellectual property law are provided opposite. To receive news updates directly to your email, click here to sign up for email updates.
News Stories
Season's greetings
Season's greetings from the partners and staff at Thompson Gray... Read more.
European Court of Justice clarifies ownership of European Community design rights
With two exceptions, United Kingdom design rights belong in the first instance to the designer of the protected object... Read more. The European Patent Office (EPO) has announced a series of rule changes intended to streamline the prosecution of European patent applications... Read more. The Administrative Council of the European Patent Organisation has agreed to a proposal to introduce new time limits for the filing of divisional applications... Read more. The House of Lords has clarified the extent to which the scope of patent claims should correspond with the underlying inventive concept... Read more. For the first time, the UK High Court has ordered compensation be given to the inventors of a patented invention that provided an outstanding benefit to their employer... Read more. A new fee structure for European patent applications enters into force on 1 April 2009, introducing changes which are intended to provide an incentive to applicants to reduce the length of applications and the number of claims by shifting more of the cost of processing and examining long applications to the applicants... Read more. As reported previously, the President of the European Patent Office (EPO), Alison Brimelow, has sought clarification from the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) on the exclusion of computer programs 'as such' from patentability... Read more. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia became a member of the European Patent Organisation on 1 January 2009, taking the membership to a total of 35 members... Read more. Following the decision handed down by the UK Court of Appeal in the case of Symbian Ltd's Application [2008] EWCA Civ 1066 ("Symbian"), the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has issued guidance on how it will assess the question of software patentability... Read more.European Patent Office introduces new rules regarding prosecution procedure
European Patent Office announces new time limits for divisional applications
House of Lords clarifies the requirement for sufficiency in patents
Landmark judgement issued on employee inventions
New fee structure for European patent applications
EPO sets deadline for filing submissions on patentability of software patents
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia joins the European Patent Convention
UKIPO issues practice note on patentability of computer programs
