Year 2014

One Bite At The Apple: PTAB Closes IPR Joinder Loophole

As a result of the America Invents Act enacted three years ago, the United States Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) now handles inter partes reviews (IPR)—a new trial proceeding used to challenge the validity of patent claims based on patents and printed publications. Recently, the PTAB has caused a split concerning the proper scope of the IPR joinder provision, which grants the PTAB discretion to join a “party” to a previously-instituted IPR. In the past, the PTAB interpreted the term “party” expansively to include petitioners for whom it had already instituted an IPR. Petitioners were quick to jump on this loophole, and have since sought to raise new arguments in an instituted IPR by filing a subsequent petition and seeking joinder with the in-progress proceeding.

WIPO Seminar: For Access To Hepatitis C Treatments, Look At HIV Lessons

A seminar on innovation and access to medicine last week examined the issue of access to hepatitis C treatment, looking at the HIV/AIDS path. Voluntary licences, such as the one entered by Gilead for its hepatitis drugs, have been applauded but such licences often do not cover middle-income countries, which are home to the bulk of hepatitis C patients, and whose poor populations remain unable to access treatment.

Remembering Ville Oksanen

From EDRi: Ville Oksanen, Vice President and a founding member of Electronic Frontier Finland (Effi), passed away on Sunday 23 November 2014 in Helsinki from a sudden illness. He was 37 years old.

A Middle Path: Advocate-General’s Opinion On Abuse Of Dominance For FRAND-Encumbered SEPs

For the first time, the European Advocate-General has suggested on the grounds of European competition law the context for negotiations of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, and has set criteria for the enforcement of injunctions and other remedies in actions involving infringement of standard-essential patents (SEPs). The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decision is still pending.

Another Setback For Design Law Treaty At WIPO; GIs In Contention

The fate of a potential treaty meant to harmonise international industrial design registration formalities took another turn this week, as African countries asked that the treaty include a safeguard against misuse and misappropriation of their traditional designs, which was seen by developed countries as a manoeuvre to delay the process.