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DSS's patent deceased -- in the UK, at any rate

By Jeremy

The Court of Appeal for England and Wales gave its ruling today on the controversial and vigorously-litigated dispute of European Central Bank v Document Security Systems Incorporated [2008] EWCA Civ 192, with Lord Justice Jacob delivering judgment on his own behalf and for his colleagues (Lord Justice Lloyd and Sir John Chadwick). You can read the text in full here on BAILII. This was an appeal against the decision of Mr Justice Kitchin here (noted by the IPKat here). In short, Kitchin J found that DSS's banknote anti-forgery technology patent had been amended so much in the course of its early life that, by the time it was granted, it was quite different from the invention for which patent protection was originally sought.

Right: the IPKat applauds the Court for its use of illustrations. If he can't follow the words, he can at least enjoy the pictures ...

In a fairly short decision by modern English standards (just 52 paragraphs) the Court of Appeal firmly dismissed DSS's appeal. The vast bulk of this judgment consisted of a helpful review of the technological background and a painstakingly careful review of the evidence. Having done all this, the Court of Appeal had no doubt that the trial judge's reasons for his holding were absolutely sound.

The IPKat feels that disputes of this nature, involving allegations of infringement and claims fo revocation in a range of closely connected jurisictions with the same substantive laws, though different evidential and procedural rules, are a good argument in favour of mediation [says Merpel -- if you're man enough to handle it] or centralised patent litigation in Europe.

Other ECB/DSS disputes have been noted by the IPKat here (Dutch patent held valid), here (French patent revoked) and here (German patent valid).

Full post as published by IPKat on March 19, 2008 (boomark / email).