Patent law changes will
help businesses reap economic benefit - Lord Triesman
UK INTELLECTUAL
PROPERTY OFFICE News Release issued by The Government News Network
on 13 December 2007
New changes to UK
Patent law will make the patent system clearer and more flexible
for business, Intellectual Property and Quality Minister Lord
Triesman said today.
Welcoming the European Patent Convention 2000 (EPC 2000) changes
that ensure consistency between UK and European patent law, which
come into force today, Lord Triesman said:
"This is the first Europe-wide reform of patent law for
thirty years, and I am delighted that it has come to fruition.
The modernized and updated law will better enable businesses in
the UK and in Europe to deliver economic benefit from their inventions."
Ian Fletcher, CEO of the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) said
"This new European patent law is a welcome modernization
which offers business greater certainty and flexibility, and as
such will be a boost for innovation in the UK".
This revision includes changes to post grant amendment of patents
which will allow UK business more options and flexibility when
amending patents giving greater choice in disputes over patent rights.
The law has been clarified and updated for inventions relating to
methods of treatment or diagnosis. The revision makes it much
clearer that such methods are not patentable and puts on a firmer
legal footing patent protection for known substances for which a
new medical use is found. A new medical use for a known drug, for
example, is more clearly patentable.
In addition rules on the effect of European patent applications
on the novelty of other inventions are simplified. Any published
European patent application may now be used to show that an
invention is not new, giving a Europe wide uniform effect of
European patents on novelty of invention.
Editors notes:
- More information on EPC 2000 revision can be found at:
http://www.epo.org/patents/law/legislative-initiatives/epc2000.html
- A patent (hyperlink to patent pages) protects new inventions
and covers how things work, what they do, how they do it, what
they are made of and how they are made. It gives the owner the
right to prevent others from making, using, importing or selling
the invention without permission.