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Compulsory licenses granted by public authorities: an application in the Covid-19 crisis in France?

As many laboratories around the world are making every effort to find a treatment for Covid-19 and more clinical trials are conducted, it is worth considering the legal mechanisms that could facilitate the quantitatively and qualitatively sufficient, and financially acceptable, exploitation of patent rights that will prove useful in curbing the epidemic and preventing a new one. In a study published in 2019, WIPO identified 156 countries or territories which provide for the exception regarding compulsory licensing. Such exception allows for the use of a patent without the consent of the owner.

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World Intellectual Property Day 2020: Innovate for a Green Future

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) dedicates this Sunday, April 26, 2020 to “green innovation”.

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The Opposition before the French Patent Office

Today is the day of the “launch” of the opposition procedure before the French Patent Office (“Institut National de la Propriété Intellectuelle” or “INPI”). This procedure is a new way to challenge the validity of a French patent, alongside the claim for invalidity.

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Publication of Decree No. 2020-225 of March 6, 2020 on the opposition procedure for French patents and setting of the opposition fee

The decree n°2020-225, taken for the application of the ordinance n°2020-116 which creates a right of opposition to French patents, was published in the Official Journal on March 6, 2020.

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Publication of Ordinance No. 2020-116 of 12 February 2020 creating a right of opposition to French patents

On 13 February 2020, Order No. 2020-116 was published in the Official Journal. It creates a right of opposition to the French patents before the INPI. The content of this ordinance is summarized in the report to the President of the Republic published the same day.

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Impacts of Decree n° 2020-24 of January 13, 2020 on the management of intellectual property rights: focus on public-private research contracts and the single representative of public entities

Decree n° 2020-24, which replaces Decree No. 2014-1518, modifies the method of appointing single representative mentioned in Article L. 533-1 of the French Research Code (in charge of the management and valorisation of the results co-owned by public entities), broadens their missions, provides which are the public co-owners’ obligations towards such single representative and provides for certain other rules for the management of public co-ownership. These provisions "amount to a co-ownership agreement [between the public co-owners] within the meaning of Article L. 613-32 of the Intellectual Property Code[1]", i.e. they derogate from the rules of Articles L. 613-29 to L. 613-31 of such code.

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Publication of Decree No. 2020-15: a risky simplification of patent proceedings.

Following the adoption of the PACTE law of May 22, 2019[1], the decree No. 2020-15 dated from January 8, 2020 and "relating to the creation of a provisional patent application and the transformation of a utility certificate application into a patent application", was published in the Official Journal on January 10, 2020.

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Publication of decree n°2019-1316 "relating to trademarks or service marks": its impact on all appeals against the decisions of the Director General of the French PTO

On December 10, Decree No. 2019-1316 "on trademarks or service marks" was published. It provides amendments to the Intellectual Property Code ("IPC") .

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The new Rules of Procedure of the Boards of Appeal

The clear aim of the new procedure before the Boards of Appeal is not to assess whether the patent or patent application fulfils the patentability requirements by taking into account each relevant element, but to assess the merit, in facts and in law, of the first instance decision (rendered by an opposition or examination division). It also aims to increase the Boards of Appeal’s efficiency. To this end, the introduction of new means (including new arguments) into the procedure is made explicitly more complicated from the appeal filing, with criteria applied more and more strictly as the appeal procedure progresses. The case will be won in first instance.

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Implementation of opposition proceedings against a French patent: Get ready now!

The PACTE law of May 22nd [1] introduced new opposition proceedings against French patents before the French PTO. A draft amendment to the Intellectual Property Code (hereinafter referred to as "IPC") is currently under consideration in order to specify the modalities of proceedings (deadlines, costs, remedies, etc.). This draft is submitted for consultation to representatives of companies, industrial property professionals and courts from Friday, November 22 to Friday, December 13, 2019 [2].