On 28 October 2020, the German Federal Government passed a bill to simplify and modernize the German patent law. The bill is expected to pass the German Parliament (Bundestag) early next year. Once the draft law passes, injunctions in patent infringement cases will be restricted by equitable considerations in individual cases.…
Since enacted in August 2018, the entry into force of the Brazilian Data Protection Law (No. 13,709 – “LGPD”) has been subject to several changes. First it was supposed to be effective as of February 2020; then August 2020; and more recently 3 May 2021 (Provisional Measure No. 959/2020 dated 29 April 2020). The future of the LGPD remains uncertain, since this Provisional Measure needs to be rejected, approved or changed by the National Congress,…
On 2 April 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the “CJEU”) delivered its judgment in Coty Germany v Amazon (Case C‑567/18), in which the CJEU considered whether Amazon was liable for trade mark infringement for storing goods that infringed EU trade marks.…
On 18 March 2020, the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (“DPMA”) has announced the extensions for all time limits granted by the German Patent and Trade Mark Office regarding all pending IP procedures. This extension shall be granted ex officio until 4 May 2020. Until then, no decision shall be made due to the expiration of any time limit.…
There is a lot of uncertainty as to when the Brazilian Data Protection Law (No. 13,709 – “LGPD”) will come into force. Such uncertainly has been significantly increased due to the current scenario of Covid-19. However, data protection compliance projects should not be postponed or implemented superficially, especially considering (i) their direct impact in a company’s reputation towards its employees, suppliers, partners and customers and (ii) their relevance in business relations outside of Brazil, since…
In an order published today, the German Federal Constitutional Court decided that the Act of Approval to the Agreement on a Unified Patent Court (“UPC Agreement”) is void. In its reasoning, the Court held that the ratification of the UPC Agreement violated democratic principles as the Act of Approval was not passed by two thirds of the members of the German Parliament (Bundestag). Thus, the Bundestag did not effectively pass the Act of Approval.…
On 27 February 2020, the UK government unofficially announced that the UK will not participate in the Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court system. The decision was confirmed by a spokesperson for the prime minister, who stated that “Participating in a court that applies EU law and bound by the CJEU is inconsistent with our aims of becoming an independent self-governing nation“. For more information about the topic, please read our latest Mayer Brown Legal …
According to press reports, the German Ministry of Justice recently released a draft law proposal to restrict injunctions in patent cases by equitable considerations in individual cases. Currently, under German patent law, a permanent injunction is the automatic remedy if a patent is found to be infringed. And since digitalization has led to an increase in the number of patents involved in a single product (e.g., cars, smartphones), the grant of injunctive relief based…
On 11 February 2020, five months after the German federal government adopted a blockchain strategy, the Bavarian state government implemented a blockchain strategy of its own, acknowledging that blockchain is a key digitalization technology. The Bavarian strategy paper highlights that blockchain technology could lead to the new, disruptive business models and to administrative processes that are more efficient.…
On 28 January 2020, the European Patent Office (EPO) published its reasons for two recent decisions refusing two European patent applications in which a machine named DABUS—”a type of connectionist artificial intelligence”—was designated as the inventor. The applicant had argued that the machine should be recognized as the inventor and that he, as the owner of the machine, was an assignee of any IP rights created by his machine.…