More changes to the UK Patents Act coming
Recently announced by the UK-IPO, changes to the Patents Act 1977 prospectively made by sections 1 to 5 and Schedule 1 of the Patents Act 2004 will be brought into force on 13 December 2007, the day EPC2000 comes into force. These relate to sections 4A (new), 27, 58, 62, 63, 72, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 89B and 130.
To put it more simply, UK patent law is being aligned with the various new and changed provisions in EPC2000, including those relating to medical use inventions, post-grant amendments (the new limitation and revocation procedures under EPC2000), restoration by the EPO, and the effects of automatic designation of states.
As readers will be able to see for themselves by clicking the links above, these amendments have already been made to the ukpatents wiki, in anticipation of the day and also in expectation of a Statutory Instrument being brought in, most likely to be called excitingly "The Patents Act 2004 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2007", following the previous three Orders (here, here and here).
To put it more simply, UK patent law is being aligned with the various new and changed provisions in EPC2000, including those relating to medical use inventions, post-grant amendments (the new limitation and revocation procedures under EPC2000), restoration by the EPO, and the effects of automatic designation of states.
As readers will be able to see for themselves by clicking the links above, these amendments have already been made to the ukpatents wiki, in anticipation of the day and also in expectation of a Statutory Instrument being brought in, most likely to be called excitingly "The Patents Act 2004 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2007", following the previous three Orders (here, here and here).