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11 May 2016 // Open Forum // IP Law in Turkey // SEAD 2016/2017 // New Spanish Patent Act // Subject Matter Eligibility
FICPI 16th Open Forum
Keynote Speeches by Battistelli and Tlevlesova
7 October 2016

FICPI is delighted to announce the addition of a Second Plenary Session at the upcoming 16th Open Forum in St. Petersburg (5-8 October 2016).  Dr. Benoît Battistelli, President of the European Patent Office, and Dr. Saule Tlevlesova, President of the Eurasian Patent Office, have kindly agreed to share with the delegates their thoughts and insights on recent developments and future plans of the regional patent systems in Europe and Eurasia.  

The Second Plenary will take place at 9:00-9:30 AM on Friday, 7 October 2016, and is sure to be of interest to all delegates at a time of great change in the IP landscape within Europe and the increasing global importance of the Russian and other Eurasian markets. 

To register for the 16th Open Forum, please click here.
Draft Intellectual Property Law in Turkey

The Turkish Parliament took the draft IP Law into its program on 06 April 2016 and plans to enact it in mid 2016. The draft law is promising as it mainly fulfils the aim to harmonize the national law with EU law and removes discrepancies between national law and international agreements of Turkey. On the other hand it appears that the legislator focused on the must provisions and refrained from ruling on any area more than necessary. The amendments brought to IP law are promising, except for the “international exhaustion of IP Rights” principle, which has been objected to by many different sectors.  Another highly debated issue is the compulsory license provisions brought into patent law, which requires an explicit ruling and understanding of the conditions under which a compulsory license can be granted. The main commission meetings were to start on 26 April 2016 and the draft law may still be amended drastically upon evaluation of the parliament.  Read more...
SEAD Patent Drafting Course 2016/2017

Register now for SEAD 2016/2017!

FICPI developed the SEAD Patent Drafting Training Course to teach the preparation of patent specifications and claims. The Course will be of particular benefit to those who have recently entered the profession and those who wish to improve their drafting skills in preparation of national and European examinations.

This year's course will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the following dates:
  • Segment I - 17-21 October 2016
  • Segment II - Home Study
  • Segment III - 27-31 March 2017
The Course brochure and application form are available here.
New Patent Act in Spain

On July 25th, 2015 the Spanish Official Gazette published a new Spanish Patent Act that will come into force on 1 April 2017.



The most important changes are the following:
  1. It will become compulsory to request full substantive examination on novelty and inventive step of all Spanish patent applications. The current law makes this request optional.
  2. Inventions that can be protected through utility models will be broadened, including chemical products. Inventions relating to processes, methods, pharmaceutical and biological products cannot be protected through utility models. The novelty required will be worldwide (as opposed to only in Spain). Utility models will not be subjected to substantive examination on novelty and inventive step. However, oppositions on these grounds can be filed by third parties. Before enforcing a utility model, it will be required to obtain a search report on the state of the art made by the Spanish Patent and Trade Mark Office.
  3. Patents of addition will be abolished.
  4. It will be possible to submit a protective letter to the Courts when one foresees that the owner of a patent or utility model is likely to request a provisional injunction.
  5. Incorporates into Spanish law the provisions of several international treaties signed by Spain, such as EPC 2000, PLT, PCT, etc.
  6. Will permit the patent or utility model owner to restrict the claims after grant. Presently it is only possible to delete claims.
  7. In invalidity proceedings, it will be possible to have partial invalidation of claims. Presently it is only possible to invalidate claims in their entirety.
  8. Privilege for all communications of Spanish Patent and Trade Mark attorneys with their clients will be introduced. Privilege will be extended to matters relating to patents, utility models, industrial designs, trade marks and names.
FICPI-Spanish Section
Executive Committee Workshop on "Subject Matter Eligibility Around the World"

During the last ExCo in Zurich, among the usual workshops, one referred to matters eligible for patents in the various jurisdictions. The discussion was very active. The discussion referred especially to grey areas, between clearly patentable and clearly unpatentable new findings. The role of guidelines in different jurisdictions appeared to be more important than generally expected. In some countries guidelines are considered as laws (e.g. in China), elsewhere they are not. In India, they are an internal document for examiners and are not binding on judges, who very often decide independently and even in contrast with them.  Someone proposed that FICPI draw up a set of common guidelines to be proposed to all countries, in order to have the same guidelines, but it was found not feasible by most attendees. Rather, greater compliance with TRIPs, as resolved in a previous meeting (Sorrento 2013) was seen as a good solution.

The full workshop report is available here.
Upcoming Events: 
FICPI 16th Open Forum, St Petersburg, Russia
5-8 October 2016. Click here to register.
 
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