IP Focussed Special Reports

In autumn 2020, we analysed more than 8000 opposition cases filed at the European Patent Office (EPO) over the last 12 years, studying the timelines for hundreds of engineering, electronics and software oppositions.

In spring 2019, Mewburn Ellis undertook 350 hours of research, analysing more than 5,000 opposition cases filed at the European Patent Office over the last ten years, studying the timelines for hundreds of life sciences oppositions both before and after the EPO’s opposition streamlining initiative.

The words "digital health", "data driven" and "AI" have been on everyone's lips and in many headlines in the healthcare and life sciences sectors over the last couple of years. We set out to collect data on the patent landscape in the fields of bioinformatics and digital health, to see whether the growth we and our clients see in the field is reflected in the data and whether insights can be gained that will assist in designing better, more informed IP strategies.

Over 60 countries provide extensions for pharma and life sciences patents – more than half of them in Europe. They’re incredibly important in helping to compensate for the years of delay in getting a product through clinical trials and regulatory reviews.

It is well-known that it can be challenging to obtain patent protection for inventions relating to software in Europe. Indeed, it is common for software developers to assume that European patent protection is not available for their innovations.

Whether you are aiming for an exit strategy through investment or acquisition, or to grow and further establish your business, IP can play a key role. Perhaps you have some experience of IP but are you unsure if you're making the most of it? Perhaps you have no experience of IP and would like to understand how you could use it to your advantage?

The decision on where to validate a pharmaceutical European patent is a big one. With costs often precluding an “everywhere” approach for small- to medium-sized companies, research institutions and universities, it is necessary to choose from the long list of available countries.