
German Court finds Apple's 'slide to unlock' patent invalid - shrikant
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/04/05/german-court-finds-apples-slide-to-unlock-patent-invalid
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TazeTSchnitzel
>Mueller also points out a fundamental difference between patent law in the US
and patent law in Europe. Put simply, the patent requirements in Europe are
more stringent to the extent that they are granted for technical solutions to
technical problems.

So... the patent laws here are sane? Well that's a relief.

~~~
eru
Just saner. Not sane.

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TazeTSchnitzel
Well, sanity is always relative.

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jacques_chester
Reminder: patents are per-country.

A finding in one country doesn't necessarily affect other countries.

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mtgx
I think USPTO has been taking steps to invalidate the same patent for a while
now, too. Also patents are now unitary across all Europe, although I think it
only applies to the new ones.

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drucken
There is no such thing as a _Unitary Patent_ in the EU, let alone "Europe".
The _Agreement on a Unified Patent Court_ has not been ratified by any country
and there are substantial legal challenges mounted by two EU members, Spain
and Italy.

Even the most optimistic believers in the new system are planning for post
mid-2014 issuance at the earliest.

And yes, the new system exists in parallel with the existing one, so does not
apply to existing patents.

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MadMud
And even if we get a Unified Patent Court, it will necessarily help. Perhaps
the one good thing about EU patent law is that it is hard to enforce :/

