Re: [Patents] No swpat has ever been upheld in a UK court ?

["Steve Probert" <Steve.Probert@patent.gov.uk>]

I think you must be referring to Section 91(1)(c) of the Patents Act. 
However, the wording of this section of the Act is not quite as
presented in your email. Section 91(1)(c) says "Judicial notice shall be
taken of .... any decision of, or expression of opinion by, the relevant
convention court on any question arising under in connection with the
relevant convention".

This clearly includes the EPO TBA decisions, and equally clearly (by
virtue of section 130(7)) covers article 52 EPC and its UK equivalent.
However, "judicial notice" does not necessarily mean that EPO TBA
decisions are treated as though they were UK case law. It is a complex
issue; there is a lot of caselaw on the point.

Regards,

Stephen Probert

>>> Jonas Maebe <jonas.maebe@ugent.be> 17/11/2004 15:15:10 >>>
..... Somewhere in the UK Patent Statute it says that UK judges *must*
take 
EPO TBA decisions into consideration as if it were UK case law (I can't

find the section right now).
***

Could you elaborate on this?

Thanks,


Jonas