The December issue of the Bloomsbury IP/IT Law Briefing is now available for subscribers.
The Court of Appeal has broadly upheld a first instance judgment in a case concerning a patent relating to the use of graphical images which encode information, in a judgment that addressed claim construction, added matter, extension of scope and obviousness (Ensygnia IP Ltd v Shell UK Oil Products Ltd & Ors [2024] EWCA Civ 1490).
In Kohler Mira Ltd v Norcros Group (Holdings) Ltd [2024] EWHC 3247 (Ch), Her Honour Judge Melissa Clarke found a patent relating to bathroom showers valid and infringed. In Alice Ltd v Photogram Ltd & Ors [2024] EWHC 3256 (IPEC), the same judge found that the use of the signs ALICE CAMERA and ALICE on cameras infringed a UK trade mark for ALICE.
His Honour Judge Hacon ruled that a registered design for a tool used to reach through a letter box to open a door without a key was not infringed by a prototype product in Barber v Wakefield & Ors [2024] EWHC 3058 (IPEC). In Halozyme, Inc v The Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks [2024] EWHC 3202 (Pat), Mr Justice Meade upheld a decision to refuse two applications for supplementary protection certificates for the combination of recombinant human hyaluronidase with another drug.
In other UK developments, the UK Supreme Court has agreed to hear Emotional Perception’s appeal regarding its application for a patent for an artificial neural network and the government has launched a consultation on how to ensure the UK’s legal framework for AI and copyright supports the UK creative industries and AI sector together.
In its judgment in Joined Cases C‑119/22 and C‑149/22 Teva and Teva Finland [ECLI:EU:C:2024:1039], the EU Court of Justice ruled that a medicinal product comprising two active ingredients is a different product to the individual monotherapies but the court also introduced an additional test for combination SPCs.
At the Unified Patent Court, the Court of Appeal confirmed that its decision to revoke a first instance order to grant a provisional injunction will, as a general rule, have retroactive effect (NanoString Technologies Inc v 10x Genomics UPC_CoA_470/2023). The local division of The Hague found a patent for converting light energy into electrical energy valid and infringed in the first UPC decision to address the doctrine of equivalents (Plant-e Knowledge BV v Arkyne Technologies SL UPC_CFI_239/2023).