Annual patent review 2015

2015 was a bumper year for patent decisions from the UK IP courts. Here Gordon Harris shares his comprehensive commentary of the key developments, in his annual review of the year's patent cases.

The 2015 crop of cases has led to developments across the field of patent law, and given lawyers much to talk about, including:

• The Court of Appeal indicating that it will not permit a doctrine of file wrapper estoppel to emerge in this jurisdiction
• The unsettled construction of Swiss form claims - what exactly does 'for' mean?
• The availability of injunctive relief in 'second medical use' patent disputes
• How the 'invention' is defined for the purpose of an assessment of inventive step
• The relationship between 'plausibility' and the tests for obviousness and insufficiency
• The availability of pre-action disclosure in patent disputes

In his annual review of the year's patent cases, Gordon Harris, delivers his verdict on the work of the IP courts in 2015.

As usual, Gordon's analysis includes comment, opinion and humour, in a comprehensive analysis of the key developments over the last year.