“Useful choice” clauses are, these days, something of a peculiarity of our local patent drafting. They are a particular type of object clause, usually phrased as an alternative after all of the other, substantive, object clauses in the general form “or at the very least provide the public with a useful choice”.
The EPO recently announced that it is conducting a survey regarding the EPO’s narrow and strict patent novelty grace period provisions amongst randomly selected European Patent applicants as well as consulting with user and stakeholder organisations.
Decision Maker Not Absolved by Lack of Acceptable Opinion Evidence for Specialist Goods
In Fantech (NZ) Limited v Systemair Aktiebolag 2021 NZIPOTM 40 the Assistant Commissioner held that when specialist goods are involved opinion evidence from people accustomed to dealing in specialist goods is not required in order for a determination to be made regarding the likelihood for confusion.
Considerations When Choosing the PCT International Searching Authority
Most of the 116 PCT Contracting States and Regions that act as Receiving Offices (ROs) for PCT International Phase applications deem more than one International Searching Authority (ISA) to be competent to undertake the international search.