Oppositions Newsletter Opposition statistics. Contact us. ca Patents Opposed. Patents Opposed as % of Patents Granted.

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1 March 2016 Oppositions Newsletter Opposition statistics In around 3000 European patents were opposed, following the trend of recent years. Between 3500 and 4000 oppositions were filed against these 3000 patents* ca Around 68,000 European patents were granted in. This indicates continuation of a trend in which patents opposed amount to somewhere between 4% and 5 patents granted. Some companies in the table on page 2 have featured as very active opponents and/or opposed companies over many years. Some companies have become more prominent recently. For example, Enercon is a prominent opponent in, as it was in 2014 (in opposition to Siemens, GE and other wind power companies). Covestro is a new entry in the table of most active opponents in (but was previously part of the Bayer group). Virgin Media is prominent as an opponent in (in opposition to Rovi Media group companies), as it was in KCI Licensing, Inc. is prominent as an opposed company in, as in 2014 (opposed by Smith & Nephew). In, Primetals Technologies and SMS groups traded oppositions as ca. 4.2 Contact us If you have any queries or for more information, please contact: James Ward - Partner E: jward@haseltinelake.com Tel: +49 (0)

2 Most opposed companies The table below shows the companies most opposed in. Company patents opposed 1 BASF Group 39 2 Procter & Gamble 33 3 Siemens Group 30 4 ABB Group 23 5 Novartis Group 22 5 Unilever 22 7 Evonik Group 20 7 Nestec S.A Rovi Guides Group KCI Licensing Group Mitsubishi Group Borealis Group DSM IP Assets B.V Dow Group N.V. Nutricia Robert Bosch GmbH Henkel Krones AG M Group Alstom Group L'Oréal Nintendo Co., Ltd Bayer Group GE Group Mann + Hummel Medtronic Group Primetals Tech. Group SMS Group 10 [* Estimates based on the preliminary information provided by Espace Bulletin, December DVD issue] Most active opponent companies The companies most active as opponents in are shown in the table below. Opponent oppositions filed 1 Siemens Group 77 2 Henkel 63 3 BASF Group 53 4 Generics (U.K.) Ltd 37 4 Procter & Gamble 37 6 Giesecke & Devrient 30 7 Evonik Group 28 8 ThyssenKrupp Group 27 9 Valeo Group Enercon GmbH Fresenius Group Nestec S.A Arkema France Mahle Group Roche Group Smith & Nephew Group Virgin Media Group Strawman Ltd Actavis Group Akzo Nobel Group Covestro Deutschland AG G.D S.p.A SCA Hygiene Products Solvay Group James Poole Ltd Kao Germany GmbH Knorr-Bremse Group 14

3 Straw Men Two of the most active opponent companies (Strawman Ltd and James Poole Ltd) are evidently straw man opponents. Of course it is not possible with certainty to identify all straw men, but simply counting oppositions filed by patent attorney firms, law firms, and other more or less overt straw men, it seems that approaching 9% at least of oppositions filed in were filed by straw men (275+ oppositions in total). Numbers of oppositions per opposed patent 17% 2% 4% 78% Oppositions , 4+ Most - ca. 78% - patents opposed in had only one opposition filed against them. Around 22% patents had two or more oppositions filed against them in. About 4% were subject to three or more oppositions and 2% to four or more oppositions. This distribution of numbers of oppositions per opposed patent in is to a large extent consistent with that of earlier years. Most opposed patents Four most opposed patents for are listed in the table below. The indicated IPC (International Patent Classification) is that designated first for the patent concerned. Patent No. IPC Title Patentee EP A61P EP A61K EP C12N EP G01N Bisphosphonic acids for the treatment and prevention of osteoporosis Nucleoside phosphoramidate prodrugs Engineering of systems, methods and optimized guide compositions for sequence manipulation Determining and localizing mold infestation in interior spaces Oppositions F.Hoffmann-La Roche AG 11 Gilead Pharmasset LLC Gilead Sciences, Inc The Broad Institute, Inc. MIT Harvard College 10 Führer, Gerhard 8 9

4 Technical fields of opposed patents opposed in were distributed across different broad technical areas corresponding to sections A to H of the International Patent Classification (IPC) - as shown in the table below. The table below also shows the distribution of patents granted in across IPC sections A to H. The distribution of opposed patents across IPC sections does not entirely correspond to the distribution of granted patents. Only 18 patents granted in fell within IPC section A, but 25 patents opposed in fell within that section. At the other extreme, 19 patents granted in fell within IPC section H, but only 7.5 patents opposed in fell within that section. That EPO oppositions are relatively less common in the electricity and physics technical areas, and relatively more common in the field of human necessities, is a well-established pattern. IPC Section Opposition Index IPC Section Description A 25.1% 18.2% 1.4 HUMAN NECESSITIES B 24.8% 18.5% 1.3 PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING C 22.0% 15.2% 1.4 CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY D 2.6% 1.5% 1.7 TEXTILES; PAPER E 3.1% 3.4% 0.9 FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS F 8.1% 10.4% 0.8 G 6.8% 13.4% 0.5 PHYSICS H 7.5% 19.4% 0.4 ELECTRICITY MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING Rolling metal, pulp, ID cards etc. The following table looks at narrower technical fields - corresponding to IPC subclasses in order of number of patents opposed in. It also shows the percentage of total patents opposed which is represented by that number (e.g. A61K: 191 patents opposed = 7.5 total patent opposed). The table covers the 37 subclasses with the most patents opposed, which account for virtually 50 all patents opposed in. The table also shows the number of patents granted in each subclass in, and the percentage of total patents granted which they represent. For each subclass the ratio of percentages of patents opposed in to those granted in offers a kind of Opposition Index as a crude measure of opposition activity in a technical field (see also the table above). An opposition index of more than 1 (e.g. A61K: 7.5 patents opposed; 3.4 patents granted; index = 2.2) suggests more than a fair share of opposition activity in the technical field concerned. An index of less than 1 (e.g. H04L: 0.9 patents opposed; 3.3 patents granted; index = 0.3) suggests less than a fair share of opposition activity in the technical field concerned. For patents opposed in, of the IPC classes covered by the table, technical fields B21B ( Rolling metal ; index = 7.1), D21H ( Pulp, paper etc., index = 6.5), B42D ( ID cards, index = 6.2), C11D ( Detergents etc., index = 5.9) scored the highest. Technical fields A61B ( Diagnosis, surgery etc., index 0.3) and H04L ( Transmission of digital data, index 0.3) scored the lowest.

5 IPC Sub-class Opposition Index 1 A61K Brief summary of IPC Subclass PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL. DENTAL. OR TOILET PURPOSES 2 A61F PROSTHESES; STENTS; MEDICAL DEVICES etc. 3 C08L COMPOSITIONS OF MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS 4 C12N MICRO-ORGANISMS OR ENZYMES etc. 5 C08F MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS (1) 6 C08G MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS (2) 7 C07K PEPTIDES 8 B32B LAYERED PRODUCTS 9 B29C SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS etc. 10 A61M B01D SEPARATION DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO THE BODY etc. 12 C07C ACYCLIC OR CARBOCYCLIC COMPOUNDS 12 F03D WIND MOTORS 12 G01N B65D ANALYSING MATERIALS BY CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS 16 A23L FOODS. FOODSTUFFS etc. 17 C11D DETERGENT COMPOSITIONS. SOAP etc. 18 B21B ROLLING METAL 18 B42D C08J PRINTED MATTER WITH IDENTIFICATION OR SECURITY FEATURES etc. TREATING SUBSTANCES. GENERAL PROCESSES OF COMPOUNDING 21 B65G TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES; CONVEYORS 21 C07D HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS 23 A47J KITCHEN EQUIPMENT 23 A61B DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION etc. 25 C09D COATING COMPOSITIONS 25 H04L TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION 27 B01J CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES. e.g. CATALYSIS. COLLOID CHEM. 28 B66B ELEVATORS. ESCALATORS. MOVING WALKWAYS 28 C12Q C22C ALLOYS PASTEURISATION. STERILISATION. PRESERVATION. PURIFICATION etc. 31 A61L STERILISING. DISINFECTING etc. 31 H01L SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES 31 H04N PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION. e.g. TV 34 A47L DOMESTIC WASHING OR CLEANING 34 B65B ELEVATORS. ESCALATORS. MOVING WALKWAYS 34 C08K INORGANIC OR NON-MACROMOLECULAR ORGANICS AS COMPOUNDING INGREDIENTS 34 D21H PULP. IMPREGNATING OR COATING PAPER