Amy Sandys

Today, the UK Court of Appeal will hear Bayer’s pleading against a first-instance decision, in which the high court found the pharmaceutical company’s patent for active ingredient rivaroxaban invalid for lack of inventive step. However, all hope is not lost for Bayer, which in late April was awarded an interim injunction against the respondents, pending the outcome of the appeal. Today also marks the first patent case for Bayer’s representatives under the new A&O Shearman brand.

The Dublin office of international firm Taylor Wessing has shored up its pharmaceutical expertise through the hire of Eoin Martyn (38), who joins from national firm McCann FitzGerald. Martyn is its first IP- and patent-specialist partner in the Irish capital, with Taylor Wessing only opening in the location in 2021. Now the firm is in a good position to be actively involved in the Unified Patent Court from another location, should it eventually open a local division in Dublin.

US companies Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) and Molecular Instruments are bringing their European fight over RNA-sequencing patents to the Unified Patent Court. On 23 April, the UK High Court found two patents belonging to ACD invalid, after the claimant had brought an infringement case against competitor Molecular Instruments (case no. HP-2022-000026). But ACD has now filed a further infringement case in The Hague, at one of the UPC’s local divisions.