In March, Daniel Alexander spoke at a conference on "Enforcing Patents Smoothly: From Automatic Injunctions to Proportionate Remedies". The seminar was organised by the Institute of Law and Technology/Chair of Private Law, Intellectual Property Law and Technology Law at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg , Germany.
There is a developing line of case law relating to the circumstances in which injunctions may be granted in IP property cases and where alternative remedies are more appropriate. The emphasis was on understanding the origins of the UK approach to granting and refusing injunctions that are rooted in real property law, followed by a particular focus on life-saving pharmaceuticals and FRAND determinations in SEPS.
Consideration was given to the issues created by a fast-developing modern patent system, the lengthy duration of patent litigation cases and the problems associated with assessing financial remedies in lieu of injunctions.
Daniel concluded with a discussion about the tension between the the assessment of damages via global licence fees and the principle of territoriality of IP rights.