By Mizuki Hashiguchi Adjacent to the glorious and delicate stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle stands the magnificent “Palace of Justice,” currently housing the Court of Appeal of Paris.1 The court encountered an enigma involving patent royalties and European competition law. A license agreement licensed three patents. One patent was subsequently revoked.
By Philippe Simon Factus was co-founded in 1999 by Rubén Bonet, its president and CEO, and Carles Puente Baliarda. It originally positioned itself as a products and services company, developing customised antennae for leading smartphone manufacturers (Samsung, LG, Siemens) and network operators (Telefonica). The firm was in consolidation phases until
By Arnaud Gasnier and Anton Svensson A traditional construction and renovation contractor, the Finnish company Picote discovered and filled a niche when it developed a proprietary method of repairing smaller interior pipes without drilling or digging. With 15 years of business expertise, it designed and developed materials, tools and methods
By Alexander Wurzer, Theo Grünewald, Wolfgang Fischer and Axel Karl The phenomena subsumed under the keywords of “fourth industrial revolution” and “Internet of Things” (IoT) is transforming the industrial landscape. With business models in the B2C and B2B segments adapting to these developments, the role of IP—and in particular that
By Klaus Haft Today, patents in Europe provide for national protection on a country-by-country basis. For the future, a Unitary Patent with unitary effect throughout the territory of the participating Member States is under preparation, which will co-exist with today’s system. To enter into force, among others the Agreement on
By Christian Hackl As established players in the industry did not take the start-up Orcan and its new technology seriously, Orcan had to pivot its business model and go the arduous path to develop and install stand-alone products by themselves. Nevertheless, they still had to convince established players to become
By Karin Hofmann Micrel Medical Devices is a family-owned company founded in Greece in 1980. Its first product, an ambulatory syringe pump, allowed patients suffering from thalassaemia, a rare blood disease that is prevalent among people of Mediterranean descent, to be treated at home instead of in hospital. Following that
By Joseph A. Alfred Steve Jobs and Apple introduced the iPhone, the first smartphone, in January 2007, and a waiting world was introduced to incredible volume both in standards and in patents. Global data usage now exceeds one billion gigabytes a month and half of all mobile devices are smartphones.
