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What does the Court of Appeal's decision in Unwired Planet [2018] EWCA Civ 2344 mean for standard essential patent litigation and the English Courts as a jurisdiction for FRAND disputes? Readers can recap on the Court of Appeal's judgment here .   On Tuesday evening, the UK Group of AIPPI held a Rapid Response seminar on the Court of Appeal's decision, lead by Professor Sir Robin Jacob (UCL) and Richard Vary (Bird & Bird).  Kat friend Zoe Fuller (Bird & Bird) was on hand to bring details of this informative and entertaining discussion to IPKat readers - over to Zoe to relay the evening's discussion: A FRAND licence - a global creature like the IPKat The Judgment  The three points on appeal were as follows: 1. Is a FRAND licence global or national? Patent licences and patent portfolios are very often global. It may be impractical for a patent owner to seek to negotiate a licence of its patent rights, or commence litigation, country by country. The Court...

The final morning of the AIPPI Congress in Cancun was hot, the Caribbean air having whipped up a thick humidity that turned the AmeriKat's mane into lion proportions.  So it was fitting that there a panel session dedicated to Hot Topics in IP.  Dr Catherine Bonner ( Chapman IP ) was on hand to summarize what the next big things in IP will be.  No surprise that one of them included Brexit.  Over to Catherine for her report: The AmeriKat's view over the Caribbean waters "At the AIPPI Congress in Cancun the weather is hot, at 30°C and 71% humidity, and the IP Panel Sessions are the same. Wednesday morning’s Briefing; ‘Hot topics in IP’ excellently chaired by Eryck Castillo gave a summary of six burning issues in the World of IP.  1.  First up to the plate, with the "Implications of Brexit for IP" was Mr Justice Henry Carr ( UK High Court )     A tough topic and, as Carr J himself acknowledged, one that back in his days at the Bar he would have ...

Before lunch yesterday, attendees were treated to a session on the protection and potential remedies that may be available for patents before issue and after expiry.  With Steve Garland ( Smart & Biggar) at the helm, the AmeriKat summarizes the four key points coming from the session as follows:  Views from the pre-grant and post-expiry remedies session 1.  Use Italian preliminary measures to weaponize an early injunction threat with a pre-grant injunction.    Judge Marina Tavassi  (President of the Milan Court of Appeal) explained that in Italy there is a tradition of patentees seeking and obtaining pre-grant injunctions on the basis of their published, but not granted, patent applications.  It was explained that this tool was available in recognition and to counterbalance the length of the ultimate substantive patent proceedings. Judge Tavassi noted that the patent trials in Italy are speeding up, particularly because, she said, Italy enjoys sp...

The AmeriKat has been noticeably whiskers down in her day job over the past few months .  But now, with the frenzy of a new Court term still several weeks away, she has taken the relatively quiet opportunity to review the much awaited publication of the EU IPO's report entitled " The Baseline of Trade Secrets Litigation in the EU ".  This report was commissioned by the EU IPO in order to prepare the future report that will assess what impact the EU Trade Secrets Directive has had (see previous Kat posts here ).  That report is to be published before 9 June 2021 (just think, 2021...what might be in store for us   then?). The AmeriKat's whiskers now alert to the EUIPO's Baseline Trade Secrets Study The 436-page report covers all 28 Member States and addresses how each jurisdiction deals with definitional issues, scope of protection, sources of law, enforcement (contractual, tortious, criminal, equitable, etc) and cross border issues relating to trade secrets (confid...