Biotechnology has long been an important industry in Europe, which provides a large number of jobs, as well as socially and industrially useful developments in the field from medical and pharmaceutical processes and products to industrial and agricultural ones. In most cases, the procedure for obtaining a European patent in the field of biotechnology does not differ from one in any other field. However, patent applications that relate to plants and animals have long been highly controversial...

Remdesivir is the only medication so far that has been approved by USA Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for COVID-19 treatment. However, the presence of the valid patents in the countries complicates significantly production of the generic medications that, generally, are sold at lower prices, and are more affordable for the population than original medications...

Globally, the issue of the interaction policy between AI and intellectual property was raised by the World Intellectual Property Organization at the end of 2019. It received a wide response around the world. Therefore, since December 13, 2019, WIPO received more than 250 applications from companies, private individuals and patent offices, in response to the first draft of the document on the interaction of AI with intellectual property. As a result of this discussion, on May 29, 2020, WIPO published a second, expanded and amended version of the document...

On May 7, 2020, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published an announcement regarding a new pilot program for reviewing patent applications related to COVID-19. Applications submitted by small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as private individuals, will have a higher priority when examined by the expertise, without paying any additional fees. The main goal of the USPTO initiative is...

There is a new provision for applications for a declaration of invalidity and cancellation of a registered trade mark on the basis of a conflicting earlier right: if a right holder intended to initiate such invalidity proceedings against a later trade mark – because he believed that his earlier rights had been infringed – his only option up to now was to go to the ordinary courts. As from 1 May 2020...

The total number of patent applications filed is growing from year to year. So, in 2019, 181,406 applications were filed with the EPO, which is 4% more than in 2018, and it is a new record...