News archive for March 2019

All latest updates

• Compulsory licences: the key to accessing inventions in the face of coronavirus?

  May 2020

  The current coronavirus pandemic provides a unique opportunity for the life sciences sector to invent, and to do so on an international scale. The race is on to develop a vaccine, effective therapies, and accurate tests for the virus required by every country in the world, but such innovations typically take years to discover and refine. The only way to move quicker in such research is to collaborate and cooperate to provide resources and expertise as needed, but this provides significant challenges for intellectual property (IP).

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• CIPA Journal: The UK says goodbye, Germany decides, the UPC says… ?

  May 2020

  As widely reported, CIPA was informed on 27 February that the government will no longer seek to participate in the Unitary Patent (‘UP’) or Unified Patent Court (‘UPC’) system. Despite the UK government having ratified the UPC Agreement back in April 2018 for many such a decision to pull back is not entirely unexpected given the inevitable jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) over states participating in the new system.

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• MIP IP Stars 2020

  May 2020

  Managing Intellectual Property IP Stars 2020, comprising the highly recommended IP professionals, has now been published. HGF is delighted to have 13 attorneys listed.

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• How can you mediate without meeting?

  May 2020

  Litigation is inevitable in the current economic climate. However, the perception is that settlement might be more difficult to achieve without face to face meetings or access to ADR. Mediation is one way that disputes can still be settled even if the traditional style mediation in the same location is not possible.

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• G3/19: An end to the saga…

  May 2020

  On 14th May the Enlarged Board of Appeal issued its opinion on the questions referred in case G3/19, otherwise known as the ‘Pepper’ case[1]. HGF have been following the case with interest, and attended the original Board of Appeal hearing which lead to the referral.

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