Are third parties free to produce Myriad’s breast cancer gene test? In a much-anticipated decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., the United States Supreme Court has held that product claims directed to naturally occurring BRCA gene sequences are products of nature and are therefore not eligible for patent protection. Thus claims to [...]
What is it all about? The Bill (here) is weighted heavily towards change in the UK design legal framework but patents and freedom of information both get a mention too. The Bill aims to simplify and improve design and patent protection to help businesses, to clarify the IP legal framework and to ensure that the [...]
A joint seminar organized by the Irish Patents Office (IPO) and the Community Trade Mark Office (OHIM) took place on June 4th in Dublin and was attended by Cliff Kennedy, Norman MacLachlan, Robert Hayes, Peter MacLachlan and Jonathan White. There were presentations by, amongst others, the President of the OHIM, Mr António Campinos and Mr Dermot Doyle [...]
Norman MacLachlan is attending ECTA's 32nd Annual Conference in Bucharest, Romania which is being held on the 19th-22nd June – the first major intellectual property event to be organised in that city. For 18 years prior to his stepping down as Treasurer in 2006, Norman was Treasurer-General and a Member of the Management Committee of ECTA, the [...]
As those following the ongoing battle between the smartphone giants Apple and Samsung will know, US District Judge Lucy Koh last year asked Apple’s lawyers were they “smoking crack” because they expected her to go through 75 pages of objections to witnesses. In the UK, Judge Colin Birss said that Samsung’s tablets were “not cool enough” [...]
The European Patent Office (EPO) and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China (SIPO) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enhance their cooperation in the area of patent classification. As of January 2014, SIPO will start classifying its newly published invention patent applications in some selected technical fields into the [...]
We are delighted to learn that we have been successful in assisting a Monaghan based fish and chip restaurant in defending an opposition at the Irish Patents Office by an international company against the local company's application to register a composite trade mark featuring the words The Monte Carlo and other graphic matter. The international opponents [...]
1. What are the most effective ways for the owner of an Irish Patent derived from a European Patent to enforce its rights in Ireland? Enforcement of a European patent in Ireland is available only by petition to the High Court in civil proceedings. Infringement proceedings are handled by the Chancery Division of the High [...]
It has been widely reported in the Irish media that the Trade Union Unite is launching a test case in an attempt to force the owners of the Trade Mark WATERFORD to have crystal glass sold under that trade mark made exclusively in Waterford. Some crystal items are still made in Waterford but the vast [...]
Bernadette Walsh and Peter MacLachlan attended the 135th INTA Meeting in Dallas, Texas from 4th-8th May 2013. Also at the Conference were IP experts from more than 140 countries with talks on a variety of trade mark related topics covering many geographic regions and industries. The keynote address was by Jerry Jones Owner, President and General [...]