SONN Patentanwälte – IP Attorneys

Enabling Disclosure

The applicant applied for a patent under the title "anti snoring baloon". The application contained no (patent) claims only a description and a test report. The description mentioned the desired properties of the balloon and the effects to be achieved in its application, but did not disclose the...

The right to be heard and the obligation to state reasons

If, for the first time in the contested decision a document is cited which in view of the patent office anticipates the claimed subject without giving the applicant the opportunity to comment on it beforehand, the applicant's right to be heard is infringed. Rejection due to lack of novelty and...

patented black

News that British sculptor Anish Kapoor had obtained "exclusive rights" on the colour VantaBlack® - the "blackest black" - caused quite a stir in the media early this year. Patenting colours - is this even possible? Yet the progression of patent practice used to be closely intertwined with the development...

High Standard of Proof for Internet Publications

In a recent decision, the Austrian Patent Appeal Board had to decide on the question whether an internet disclosure was proven to be published before the priority date of the patent in suit. In this decision, the Patent Appeal Board clarified that disclosures on the internet certainly...