Patent decision

BL number

O/366/06

Concerning rights in

EP 1350049

Hearing Officer

Mr D J Barford

Decision date

14 December 2006

Person(s) or Company(s) involved

Keith Dixon Roche; Oil & Gas Installations Limited; and Pipeflex Limited v NV Kakaert SA; Luc Bourgois; Ludo Adriaensen; and Daniel Mauer

Provisions discussed

PA 1977 sections 13, 37,

Keywords

Entitlement, Inventorship, Jurisdiction, Stay of proceedings

Related Decisions

None

Summary

The claimants have launched entitlement proceedings in Belgium (where the defendants are based) with a view to the court there determining the entitlement issue in respect of all the European patent family members. In case the court in Belgium decides that it does not have the necessary jurisdiction, the claimants have also initiated entitlement actions in the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy in respect of corresponding equivalents.

All parties have requested a stay -referring to European Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction, However the hearing officer was content to order a stay, pending decision by the court in Belgium, simply on the basis that there is no dispute over a stay and there is no public interest consideration to take into account.

Full decision O/366/06 20Kb