Blog

Solution

Missed a patent deadline? Did you know that (European) patent law provides various remedies?

Unfortunately, during patent prosecution, it may occur that a deadline to perform an action required by the patent office is missed. However, do not despair! Legal remedies are sometimes available to address this. In fact, the European Patent Convention provides no fewer than three possible remedies in case a deadline is missed. Which remedy is available depends on the specific action that was missed.

World IP Day 2022

๐“๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐›๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ˆ๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก: ๐ˆ๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐š ๐๐ž๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐…๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ž. ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐๐ž๐œ๐ข๐๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐š๐ซ๐ค๐š๐›๐ฅ๐ž ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ฏ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐  ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ง ๐†๐„๐•๐„๐‘๐’ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ญ๐ž๐œ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ญ๐ฌ.ย 

Influencers and brand owners: handling wrongful use and the art of letting go

Our consuming society is globally shifting to social media and online marketplaces. This trend has created incredible opportunities for some, and significant losses for others. The traditional mediums for advertising, such as print, radio and television, are losing significant traction to digital spaces. Brand owners are trying to catch the wave by finding new ways to connect with the younger demographic audience. As such, the demands to enhance desirability of brands and deliver products to targeted demographics is growing rapidly and, in turn, brands are hiring the services of social media influencers.

Cannabis – avoiding confusion with other cannabis trademarks: introduction on likelihood of confusion

The road to a registered trademark does not stop there. After the examination, your EU or Benelux trademark will be published for opposition purposes before being registered โ€“ that is, if no one successfully opposed your application for example on the basis of earlier rights. In this article, we take a look at this step in the life of a trademark application with specific reference to cannabis trademarks and goods.

Artificial Intelligence & Liability โ€“ Whodunit?

Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is commonly associated with progress, growth and technological improvements. It has the potential of transforming businesses, but what if something goes wrong? Who will be liable if anything goes wrong with an AI system? Should the AI system itself be made liable for its output? Or should we look at the producer of the system, or even the user?
In this article we will touch upon (i) the current AI liability framework in the EU, (ii) the new proposal for an EU regulation on AI, and (iii) the importance of agreements.

unitary patent

A Unitary Patent option and a common Patent Court in the EU, likely coming in 2022

Finally, after many years of difficulties, the combined Unitary Patent (UP) and Unified Patent Court (UPC) project is about to become a reality.

The announcement by Germany of its ratification of the Protocol on Provisional Application (PPA) in August 2021, along with the subsequent deposit of the PPA ratification instrument in September 2021, has marked an important milestone towards entry into force. What stood in the way was the needed ratification of the PPA by one more Member State which is no longer the case and, ultimately, the final stages towards entry into force can be underway.

Belgian patent rights court

Measures to enforce Belgian patent rights in court

National Belgian patents and European patents in force in Belgium are exclusive intellectual property rights which allow you, the patentee, to forbid others from exploiting your invention in Belgium. Unfortunately, sometimes a competitor does violate your exclusive patent rights which can result in damages (e.g. financial loss). Luckily, under Belgian law there are various legal procedures at your disposal which enable you enforcing your exclusivity in court.

Have you ever met the person skilled in the art?

Have you ever met the person skilled in the art?

Despite his many different faces, the โ€œperson skilled in the artโ€ (PSITA), also called โ€œthe person having ordinary skill in the artโ€ or PHOSITA, is a famous character in the field of patents.

PSITA is a legal concept found in many patent laws, which is used in various aspects of patent examinations worldwide. In most jurisdictions, it is a hypothetical person who is presumed to be a skilled practitioner in a technical field with average knowledge and ability and who is aware of what is common general knowledge in the art at a given relevant date.