Union Carbide v BP Chemicals Ltd, 1999 RPC 409, EWCA
Citation: Union Carbide v BP Chemicals Ltd, 1999 RPC 409, EWCA
Rule of thumb: How long do patent applications have to be - do patent applications have to be able to be understood by non-experts in the area? No. The Court held the important precedent in this case that when someone is putting in a patent application the language has to be at a level of technical craft where it could be understood by an expert in the field – the applicant does not have to submit a whole educational course with their application.
Judgment:
‘the question is always what the person skilled in the art would have understood the patentee to be using the language of the claim’, Lord Hoffman.
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.