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The right of priority (part 1): The transfer of the right of priority

The right of priority (part 1): The transfer of the right of priority

Priority is one of the fundamental institutions of industrial property law. We distinguish between the ordinary priority resulting from a proper application for the protection of an invention, industrial design or utility model in the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland (PPO) and the Convention priority — arising from an application filed in another country of the Paris Union or parties...
Post-filing data in the most recent case-law of the EPO

Post-filing data in the most recent case-law of the EPO

Can clinical trial results and other data confirming a specific technical effect of an invention be submitted after the patent application has been filed? In March 2023, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) issued a groundbreaking decision in case G 2/21, setting a standard for assessing the admissibility of post-filing data. In this edition of the Legal Report,...
The ban on patenting of NGT plants?

The ban on patenting of NGT plants?

On February 7, 2024 the European Parliament voted on the first reading in favor of the proposal for a regulation on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques (NGT) and their food and feed. This method involves breeding plants by introducing specific changes to the DNA; in many cases it does not require the use of foreign genetic material from species that cannot interbreed naturally....
Exhaustion of patent rights

Exhaustion of patent rights

Patent exhaustion determines the limits of the monopoly that the patent holder is entitled to. If a product that constitutes the material embodiment of the rights under the patent is placed on the market by the right-holder (or with their consent), they lose control over its further fate. Due to the exhaustion of the right, the right-holder cannot take actions aimed at opposing the use of their...
The patent invalidation in Poland

The patent invalidation in Poland

The very nature of patents implies their temporal limitation, but the expiry of the protection period may not be the only reason for the termination of exclusive rights arising from the patent. In this article, we present the regulations in Polish law regarding the invalidation of a patent, which can basically take place in two procedures: • as a result of an objection; • in patent...
The claim to establish that the production does not infringe the patent

The claim to establish that the production does not infringe the patent

In the most recent entry in the series “Patents Without Secrets” we have written about claims that a patent holder can pursue in the scenarios of patent infringements. This time, we would like to analyze a situation where the roles are in a certain way reversed, and it is the patent holder against whom an action would be brought in aim to demonstrate that the infringement does not occur. ...
Clinical trials and the novelty of the invention

Clinical trials and the novelty of the invention

Can clinical trials of a new medicine that are conducted before a patent application is filed result in the loss of novelty by that invention? The caselaw of the EPO shows that it is quite a serious risk that we should take into consideration when preparing the placing of our medicinal product on the European market.  In this Report, we would like to take a closer look at one of the most...
Know-how: the protection of trade secrets

Know-how: the protection of trade secrets

Know-how, technological knowledge developed by an enterprise in a particular field, is not protected under the industrial property law, and yet it might play a considerable role when it comes to keeping inventions safe from unauthorized use by third parties. In this article we will present you the definition of know-how, as well as a catalogue of claims that an entitled person can raise in case...
Patent linkage in the proposed amendment to the Polish Reimbursement Act

Patent linkage in the proposed amendment to the Polish Reimbursement Act

In Poland, the work on the amendment of The Act of 12 May 2011 on the Reimbursement of Medicines, Foodstuffs Intended for Particular Nutritional Uses and Medical Devices is currently in progress. The project developed by the Ministry of Health was published in the Public Information Bulletin of the Government Legislation Center on 30 June 2021. On the same day, an invitation to public...
The New EPO Guidelines: An Overview of the Key Changes

The New EPO Guidelines: An Overview of the Key Changes

Since March 1, 2021 new Guidelines of the European Patent Office (EPO) are in force. Until now, such an update tended to take place annually in November; this shift in calendar is consistent with a broader plan of reforms related to the Strategic Plan 2023 being currently implemented by EPO, which among its key initiatives lists fostering social dialogue and engaging stakeholders. The new...
The Debate on the Waiver of Patents for Vaccines Against SARS-CoV-2

The Debate on the Waiver of Patents for Vaccines Against SARS-CoV-2

The subject that we have already written about in our previous Legal Reports — the suspension of patent protection for vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus (see: Patent rights: an obstacle for development of a vaccine against COVID-19? (WTS Legal Report No. 15/2020) and What is permitted under the TRIPS Agreement when it comes to the scarcity of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines? (WTS Legal Report No....