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Opposition Procedure Before The European Patent Office
The opposition procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO) is a post-grant, contentious, '' inter partes'', administrative procedure intended to allow any European patent to be centrally opposed. European patents granted by the EPO under the European Patent Convention (EPC) may be opposed by any person from the public (no commercial or other interest whatsoever need be shown). This happens often when some prior art was not found during the grant procedure, but was only known by third parties. An opposition can only be based on a limited number of grounds,"The function of Article 100 EPC is to provide, within the framework of the EPC, a limited number of legal bases, ie a limited number of objections on which an opposition can be based." iDecision G 1/95 (19 July 1996) reasons 4.1. i.e. on the grounds that the subject-matter of the patent is not patentable, that the invention is insufficiently disclosed, or that the content of the patent extends beyond the content of the ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Patent Office
The European Patent Office (EPO) is one of the two organs of the European Patent Organisation (EPOrg), the other being the Administrative Council. The EPO acts as executive body for the organisationGower's Report on Intellectual Property , para 1.34 while the Administrative Council acts as its supervisory body as well as, to a limited extent, its legislative body. The actual legislative power to revise the lies with the Contracting States themselves when meeting at a Conference of the Contracting States. Within the European Patent Office, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claim (patent)
In a patent or patent application, the claims define in technical terms the extent, i.e. the scope, of the protection conferred by a patent, or the protection sought in a patent application. The claims particularly point out the subject matter which the inventor(s) regard as their invention. In other words, the purpose of the claims is to define which subject matter is protected by the patent (or sought to be protected by the patent application). This is termed as the "notice function" of a patent claim—to warn others of what they must not do if they are to avoid patent infringement, infringement liability. The claims are of paramount importance in both patent prosecution, prosecution and lawsuit, litigation. For instance, a claim could read: * "An apparatus for catching mice, said apparatus comprising a base, a spring member coupled to the base, and ..." * "A chemical composition for cleaning windows, said composition substantially consisting of 10–15% ammonia, ..." * "Method ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claims Under The European Patent Convention
Article 84 of the European Patent Convention (EPC) specifies that the "matter" for which patent protection is sought, i.e. requested, in an application - the purported invention - shall be stated ("defined") in the claims. This legal provision also requires that the claims must be clear and concise, and supported by the description. The function, form and content of the claims are defined by Article 84 supplemented by . The wording of Article 84 is as follows: The claims shall define the matter for which protection is sought. They shall be clear and concise and be supported by the description. Rationale The EPC requires that the claims be clear (for example the claim wording cannot be obscure) and define the matter for which protection is sought in terms of the technical features of the invention., The rationale behind this requirement is to ensure that the public is not left in any doubt as to which subject-matter is covered by a particular patent and which is not. That is, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abuse Of Process
Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other types of aggression. To these descriptions, one can also add the Kantian notion of the wrongness of using another human being as means to an end rather than as ends in themselves. Some sources describe abuse as "socially constructed", which means there may be more or less recognition of the suffering of a victim at different times and societies. Types and contexts of abuse Abuse of authority Abuse of authority includes harassment, interference, pressure, and inappropriate requests or favors. Abuse of corpse Necrophilia involves possessing a physical attraction to dead bodies that may led to acting upon sexual urges. As corpses are dead and cannot give consent, any manipulation, removal of parts, mutilation, or sexual ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Straw Man (law)
A straw man is a figure not intended to have a genuine beneficial interest in a property Property is a system of rights that gives people legal control of valuable things, and also refers to the valuable things themselves. Depending on the nature of the property, an owner of property may have the right to consume, alter, share, re ..., to whom such property is nevertheless conveyed in order to facilitate a transaction. See also * Straw deed * Straw owner * Straw purchase * Strawman theory, a pseudolegal conspiracy theory unrelated to the actual legal concept References Personal property law {{Law-term-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evidence (law)
The law of evidence, also known as the rules of evidence, encompasses the rules and legal principles that govern the proof of facts in a legal proceeding. These rules determine what evidence must or must not be considered by the trier of fact in reaching its decision. The trier of fact is a judge in bench trials, or the jury in any cases involving a jury. The law of evidence is also concerned with the quantum (amount), quality, and type of proof needed to prevail in litigation. The rules vary depending upon whether the venue is a criminal court, civil court, or family court, and they vary by jurisdiction. The Quantum meruit, quantum of evidence is the amount of evidence needed; the quality of proof is how reliable such evidence should be considered. Important rules that govern Admissible evidence, admissibility concern hearsay, Authentication (law), authentication, Relevance (law), relevance, privilege (evidence), privilege, witnesses, opinions, Expert witness, expert tes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fact (law)
In law, a question of law, also known as a point of law, is a question that must be answered by a judge and can not be answered by a jury. Such a question is distinct from a question of fact, which must be answered by reference to facts and evidence as well as inferences arising from those facts. Answers to questions of law are generally expressed in terms of broad legal principles. They can be applied to many situations rather than particular circumstances or facts. An answer to a question of law as applied to the specific facts of a case is often referred to as a ''conclusion of law''. In several civil law jurisdictions, the highest courts deem questions of fact as settled by the lower courts and will only consider questions of law. They thus may refer a case back to a lower court to re-apply the law and answer any fact-based evaluations based on their answer on the application of the law. International courts such as the Benelux Court of Justice and the European Court of Just ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juristic Person
A juridical person is a legal person that is not a natural person but an organization recognized by law as a fictitious person such as a corporation, government agency, non-governmental organisation, or international organization (such as the European Union). Other terms include artificial person, corporate person, judicial person, juridical entity, juridic person, or juristic person. A juridical person maintains certain duties and rights as enumerated under relevant laws. The rights and responsibilities of a juridical person are distinct from those of the natural persons constituting it. Since the beginning of writing at the start of recorded history, associations have been known as the original form of the juridical person. This is documented for the 1st century A.D. for Jewish trading companies. In Roman law, entities gained significance through institutions such as the state, communities, corporations (''universitates'') and their associations of persons and assets, as well ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural Person
In jurisprudence, a natural person (also physical person in some Commonwealth countries, or natural entity) is a person (in legal meaning, i.e., one who has its own legal personality) that is an individual human being, distinguished from the broader category of a legal person, which may be a private (i.e., business entity or non-governmental organization) or public (i.e., government) organization. Historically, a human being was not necessarily considered a natural person in some jurisdictions where slavery existed (subject of a property right) rather than a person. Definitions According to Maria Helena Diniz, an individual or natural person "is the human being considered as a subject of rights and obligations". Every human being is endowed with legal personality and, therefore, is a subject of law. According to Sílvio de Salvo Venosa, "legal personality is a projection of the intimate, psychic personality of each person; it is a social projection of the psychic personalit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unity Of Invention Under The European Patent Convention
Under , a European patent application must "...relate to one invention only or to a group of inventions so linked as to form a single general inventive concept." This legal provision is the application, within the European Patent Convention, of the requirement of unity of invention, which also applies also in other jurisdictions. The lack of unity or non-unity (of invention) can appear either ''a priori'', i.e., before taking into account the prior art, or ''a posteriori'', i.e., after taking into account the prior art. An ''a posteriori'' lack of unity usually results from a lack of novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ... or inventive step of the subject-matter of one independent claim. Unity amongst a group of inventions When a European patent application cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Divisional Applications Under The European Patent Convention
During the grant procedure before the European Patent Office (EPO), divisional applications can be filed under out of pending earlier European patent applications. A divisional application, sometimes called European divisional application, is a new patent application which is separate and independent from the earlier application, unless specific provisions in the European Patent Convention (EPC) require something different. A divisional application, which is divided from an earlier application, cannot be broader than the earlier application, neither in terms of subject-matter nor in terms of geographical cover. Background The possibility to file a divisional application is provided in many patent systems and is guaranteed by Article 4.G. of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property of 1883, to which more than 170 countries are Contracting Parties. Some basic characteristics of a divisional application are as follows: :"A divisional application is an appl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
