High Court: Patents Court judgments, 2021

An injunction following infringement of a standard-essential patent should not be granted before a FRAND trial merely because an earlier decision treated an…

In intellectual property litigation involving highly confidential commercial information, the court has jurisdiction to balance a party’s need for meaningful…

In managing highly confidential information in patent and FRAND litigation, the court must balance the receiving party’s need for the fullest possible access…

Permission to appeal on obviousness is approached with caution because appellate courts should be slow to interfere with the first-instance judge’s evaluative…

For patent construction, “live” and “time-shifted” communication modes are assessed by reference to the user experience of a conversation. They form a…

Where a defendant is resident in a state that is party to the Hague Service Convention, convention service is the normal and primary method. Alternative…

Claims brought by an employer against an employee fall within the employment jurisdiction provisions where, viewed in reality and substance, they have a…

Where a defendant withdraws a jurisdiction challenge under CPR Part 11, the protection against serving a defence under CPR rule 11(9) ceases. The defendant…

For a term such as length indicator in a telecommunications patent, the relevant field must be capable of performing the ordinary function of indicating where…

At a case management conference in patent proceedings, the court may limit the number of claims which a patentee may assert as independently valid where it has…

A second medical use claim is anticipated only by a clear and unambiguous disclosure of every claim feature which also makes the claimed therapeutic effect…

In FRAND litigation, a party relying on an essentiality ratio must plead the methodology, sources and proposed factual findings with sufficient precision to…

A patentee relying on the doctrine of equivalents must plead that reliance in the Particulars of Infringement. The requirement applies in the Patents Court…

A court may vary or revoke an order before it is drawn up and perfected, and may also use CPR 3.1(7) where justice requires it. The jurisdiction is exceptional…

Added matter is assessed by comparing the disclosure of the application as filed with the patent as granted, through the eyes of the skilled person. The…

In FRAND patent proceedings, a party intending to rely on an extensive patent-essentiality review must plead at least the basic methodology proposed. The…

At a case-management stage, the court should select the procedure that deals with the proceedings justly and at proportionate cost. Whether liability…

An issue-based costs order may be appropriate where the successful party lost on a discrete issue which caused additional costs, or where unreasonable conduct…

For obviousness, the skilled person may differ from the addressee of the patent. The court should identify the problem, locate it within the established field…

Disclosure in a FRAND case is governed by proportionality. The court must weigh the likely improvement in the quality of estimates against the cost, delay…

For patent validity, obviousness is ultimately a statutory question whether the claimed invention involves an inventive step. The Windsurfing/Pozzoli questions…