Thèmes relatifs aux brevets

Les brevets sur la biotechnologie en Europe - menace ou promesse ?Over the past decade, few technical fields have attracted more public attention than biotechnology. Advances in medicine, agriculture, environmental engineering and other related areas mean growing numbers of patent applications together with ever more products coming onto the market. At the same time, the debate about the patentability of biotechnological inventions continues.

Les challenges et opportunités des brevets sur la nanotechnologie en EuropeNanotechnology is considered by many to be one of the key technologies of this century, with an expected market volume of EUR 1 trillion in 2015. In 2004, about EUR 8 billion was invested in nanotechnology research and development worldwide.

L'accord de LondresL'accord de Londres vise essentiellement à réduire les coûts en introduisant un régime de traduction post-délivrance attractif du point de vue des coûts pour tous les brevets européens. A cette fin, les Etats parties à l'accord ont accepté de renoncer - totalement ou dans une large mesure - à l'exigence de produire une traduction, dans leur langue nationale, des brevets déjà délivrés.

Accord sur le règlement des litiges en matière de brevets européensCurrent law requires patent holders and their competitors to debate patent rights in front of national courts in all countries in which a patent has been violated - a very complicated state of affairs. The solution lies in a European Patent Court. And that, precisely, is the aim of the European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA), a voluntary agreement remaining to be ratified by member states of the European Patent Organisation.

Inventions mises en oeuvre par ordinateurComputer-Implemented Inventions (CII) are a hot topic in the patent world. While some countries grant patents for all types of software, the patent practice in Europe is a different matter. Here, developers need to show that their invention actually makes a contribution in a technical field.