Afghanistan: Patent

The European Patent Office's Enlarged Board of Appeal has issued its decision in G 1/25, addressing the contentious practice of description amendments in European patent applications. This decision establishes new guidelines on when patent descriptions must be modified to align with claims, potentially reshaping prosecution strategies across Europe. The ruling adopts a middle ground between the EPO's traditional approach requiring extensive amendments and recent case law suggesting such changes lack explici

DS Smith and its partners have launched the Reuse Fast Track initiative, Europe's first large-scale reuse acceleration program using existing industrial solutions for fiber-based e-commerce packaging. The program aims to circulate 250,000 reusable packages within 12 months while gathering critical data on consumer behavior and return rates. How will intellectual property strategies enable the scaling of circular packaging systems aligned with the EU's upcoming Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation?

The European Commission has introduced a revised Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation and updated Guidelines, effective May 1, 2026, fundamentally reshaping how technology licensing agreements are assessed under EU competition law. The framework introduces significant changes including express provisions for data licensing, extended grace periods for market share thresholds, and new requirements for technology pools and collective negotiations. Companies have until April 30, 2027, to align existin