What are you looking for?
Article
1 Feb 2013
Formal Obligations: burdens on biotech patents
Although the patentability of biotechnological inventions as described in a European patent application should meet substantive requirements such as novelty, inventive step and industrial applicability, latest developments at the European Patent Office suggest that formalities have become more and more important, say Caroline Pallard and Peter ten Haaft.
The current practice of the EPO places an increasing demand on the skills of the European patent attorney with respect to these formal issues. In addition, early prosecution costs will dramatically increase since more and more of the description of the patent application is taken up for fallback options and/or more divisional applications may be filed.
This article was first published in Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review 2012 .
Article: Formal obligations: burdens on biotech patents