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The Patents Act 1977 sets out the requirements for patent applications, how the patent-granting process should operate, and the law relating to disputes concerning patents.
- AS AMENDED
The Patents Act 1977 is the main law governing the patents...
- AS AMENDED
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person infringes a patent for an invention if, but only if, while the patent is in force, he does any of the following things in the United...
Dec 21, 2008 · I think there is a difference: patent is less emotive and means that it can be clearly shown to be a lie; blatant stresses the likelihood of malice and means that the lie is obvious. I think that dictionary has got it pretty well.
Jan 26, 2011 · IPR, such as patents, trade marks, copy- rights and rights in designs, are essentially negative in character: they all confer on their owners a bundle of rights to stop others doing certain things without the right owner's consent.
- Section 1: Patentable inventions
- Excluded subject matter
- Relationship with the EPC and decisions of the EPO
- General Principles
- Using past decisions
- Substance over form
- Interaction between the exclusions
- Not an exhaustive list
- Relationship of excluded matter to novelty and inventive step
Balance of probabilities 1.10
The Court of Appeal, in paragraph 5 of Aerotel Ltd v Telco Holdings Ltd & Ors Rev 1 [2007] RPC 7 (Aerotel/Macrossan), made it clear that assessing excluded matter involves a question of law which should be decided during prosecution of the patent application. The position is therefore assessed fully by patent examiners before grant, and objections are not to be dropped simply because the applicant asserts that the invention relates to non-excluded subject matter. The question of excluded matter is decided on the balance of probabilities, taking into account all of the evidence available. However, as it is a question of law, it is not something on which applicants are entitled to the benefit of the doubt, in the way they would be in relation to questions of pure fact (such as the date of a particular disclosure, or the scope of the common general knowledge).
1.17.2
In Lantana v Comptroller-General of Patents [2014] EWCA Civ 1463 the Court of Appeal reiterated that the requirements of s.1(1) and s.1(2) are separate, and that claims to novel and inventive subject matter may still be excluded. In paragraph 19 of the judgment Arden LJ held: “I see no mandate in section 1 of the PA 77 for holding that it is sufficient that there is an inventive step. It is deliberate legislative policy to exclude certain matters from patentability even if they would otherwise be patentable”. This was reaffirmed in paragraph 70 by Kitchin LJ, who stated that “[t]here is no inconsistency between an acceptance that an invention […] is new and inventive and a finding that the contribution it makes falls solely within excluded subject matter”. The judge continued by remarking that “the former requires […] an assessment of whether it forms part of the state of the art or is merely an obvious step away from it”, while exclusion relates to assessing whether the contribution falls solely within excluded categories.
Jan 1, 2012 · Out-Law Guide 5 min. read. Patents: the basics. 01 Jan 2012, 11:44 am. A patent gives an inventor the right for a limited period to stop others from making, using or selling an invention without the permission of the inventor. This guide is based on UK law. What is a patent?
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A guide to intellectual property rights law in the UK. The Q&A gives an overview of the protection and enforcement of the following IPRs: patents, trade marks, registered designs, unregistered designs, copyright and confidential information. This resource may be affected by Brexit.
