Around the IP Blogs

 Before we jump into a new week, let's have a look at what happened last week on the IP blogs...

Sunday already?!

Patents

Regulation (EU) 2019/933, amending the Regulation (EC) No 469/2009 concerning the supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products (the SPC Regulation) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 11 June 2019 and thus came into effect on 1 July 2019. The amended Regulation establishes the so-called “SPC waiver”, that excludes certain acts, which would otherwise require the consent of the SPC holder, from protection conferred by the SPC, if the prescribed conditions are met. Kluwer Patent Blog reported on the practical implementation of the requirements of the Regulation.

Must a plaintiff investigate a patent’s validity prior to suing for infringement? This question was raised in the case of WPEM LLC v. SOTI Inc. PatentlyO reported on the finding of the Court.

 

On December 29, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed a district court’s decision dismissing Simio’s patent infringement action against FlexSim Software Products (FlexSim) and finding Simio’s claims patent ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101 (Simio v. FlexSim Software Products, Inc.).  IPWatchdog reported on the case.

Copyright

In a great start to the Sci-Hub litigation, Justice Midha at the Delhi High Court repeatedly pointed out that the issues in this case involved ‘a matter of public importance’, while saying he would not want to pass any orders in the law suit without hearing the various parties that wanted to get their views heard in the case, for the interim application as well as the suit. SpicyIP highlighted some of the important parts of the case.

 

Designs

MARQUES reported on The European Commission’s report on the evaluation of EU legislation on design protection. The report is the result of an extensive study, including a consultation in which MARQUES took part.

 

Other: Covid-19 

MARQUES published a summary of an Early Warning Notification regarding vaccine-related crime during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was recently published by EUROPOL. The notification warns that organised crime groups may be preparing to produce counterfeit vaccines, spread disinformation about vaccines and illegally refill vials. It also notes that some dark web markets already feature adverts for fake COVID-19 vaccines.