The US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a document to provide detailed guidance on inventorship in the context of AI-assisted inventions. The guidance clearly states that inventions created with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) are not categorically unpatentable, but the document emphasizes that even if AI plays a...
Assessing computer-implemented inventions – the British Approach
The UK Patents Act has the same exclusions on patentability as the European Patent Convention, but the case law over the years has diverged slightly in its approach to assessing whether an application is excluded from protection. The main case now referred to is the Aerotel case (Aerotel Ltd v...
Preliminary Injunctions at the UPC in light of the ECJ’s Phoenix Contact decision
The first decisions of the European Unified Patent Court (UPC) relating to preliminary injunctions have been issued and, as could be expected, these decisions were issued in proceedings in which a party seeks interim relief against an alleged patent infringer. Last year, on 28 April 2022, the European Court of...
The First UPC Preliminary Injunction Order
Swiss e-bike manufacturer, myStromer AG, and its competitor, Revolt Zycling AG, were both exhibiting their bicycles at Eurobike 2023 in Frankfurt, one of Europe’s largest bike trade fairs. MyStromer AG, based in Oberwangen, is a Swiss manufacturer of fast e-bikes with a speed of up to 45 km/h. MyStromer applied...
Freedom to operate
FTO stands for "freedom to operate." It refers to the legal ability of a company or individual to use, manufacture, or sell a particular product or process without infringing any existing patent or other intellectual property rights held by other companies or individuals. Companies may conduct FTO searches or analyses...
Incentive Program
An incentive program for invention disclosures in a company for employees is a program that rewards employees for disclosing their inventions to the company. The goal of such a program is to encourage employees to communicate their ideas and inventions to the company. This can help the company identify new...
IVAM: Workshop on Business Growth Solutions
New year - new service at IVAM. With the beginning of the year 2022, IVAM wants to expand its offer and add a selection of exclusive services. In cooperation with selected partners, we will support you in all issues related to corporate growth and business development. Specifically, this offer includes...
Quantum Computing Innovations
Regular analyses of patent applications world wide show that quantum computing is one of the fastest growing technologies and governments are investing large sums of money. One prediction, dating from 2020, suggests that the quantum computing market could read USD 1 trillion by 2035. With such large sums being poured...
Europäischer Fonds unterstützt IP von kleinen und mittelständischen Unternehmen (KMU)
Die Europäische Kommission hat einen Fonds eingerichtet, der kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen mit Sitz in der EU dabei unterstützen soll Rechte in Bezug auf geistiges Eigentum (IP) zu erhalten und durchzusetzen. Darunter fallen zum Beispiel Patente, Marken und Gebrauchsmuster. Die Umsetzung des Fonds zeigt geringfügige Unterschiede von Land zu Land....
Developing a Patent Strategy
Developing a patent strategy - as part of a broader company strategy for protection intellectual property - should be an important component of the company's business plan. Experience shows, however, that for many companies the patent strategy is done "on the fly" and reactive, rather than executing a defined comprehensive...