COVER PAGE FOR A WRITTEN EXAMINATION/TEST

Name of subject

: European Intellectual Property Law and Technology

Subject code

: 620066

Date of examination

: 21 March 2012

Length of examination : 3 Hours

Lecturer

: M.H.M. Schellekens

ANR: 564095

Telephone number of departmental secretariat: 8199

Students are expected to conduct themselves properly during examinations and to obey
any instructions given to them by examiners and invigilators.
Firm action will be taken in the event that academic fraud is discovered.
Enter ANR!
Each question should be answered on TiU exam paper, each furnished with the candidates
name and ANR number. If candidates are unable or unwilling to answer a question, they must
nevertheless submit a sheet of paper containing details of their name and ANR, together with the
number of the question concerned.
The 6 digit ANR number is printed on your TiU card.
Please read the following instructions carefully:
1. Each question must be answered on a separate sheet of paper!
2. Examination aids (books, lecture notes, electronic equipment, and the like) are NOT
permitted during examinations.
3. NO legal texts or any other literature may be used during examinations, except those
provided (viz. extracts from the EPC and the text of the InfoSoc Directive).
4. The use of a published dictionary providing translation of words from the native language
of the student to English and vice versa is allowed. Handwritten or other additions to the
dictionary are not allowed. No self-made lists of translations are allowed.
5. The total number of questions and/or exercises in the examination is 10.
6. The questions in the assessment do not carry the same weight. The number of points that
you can score is indicated with each question. You can score a total of 100 points.
7. Answers must be written clearly.
8. The extent to which the students answer should be concise and furnished with supporting
arguments.
9. The answer to every question must be furnished with supporting arguments, involving, for
example, relevant sections of law, jurisprudence, and literature.
10. The question sheets must be handed in at the end of the examination.
11. The results of the examination will be available on BlackBoard.

Question 1
Trade secrecy can be a viable alternative for patent protection. Name two situations in which
trade secrecy should be seriously considered by a company willing to protect its innovations. (10
points)
Question 2
Substantive patent law
Below you can read a newsmessage. Indicate whether the invention described is not patentable
as a discovery under the EPC and indicate your argument(s). (10 points)
Brasilian researchers have identified a protein in the saliva of a common South American tick,
Amblyomma cajennense, that apparently reduces and can even eradicate cancerous cells while
leaving healthy cells alone. "This is a radical innovation," said Ana Marisa Chudzinski-Tavassi,
the molecular biologist at the Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo who is leading the research.
"The component of the saliva of this tick... could be the cure for cancer," she told. She said she
stumbled on the properties of the protein, called Factor X active, while testing the anti-coagulant
properties of the tick's saliva -- the way it stops blood thickening and clotting so the tick can keep
gorging itself on its host. A theory that the protein might have an effect on cancerous cells led to
laboratory tests on cell cultures -- which exceeded all expectations. "To our surprise it didn't kill
normal cells, which were also tested," Chudzinski-Tavassi said. "But it did kill the tumorous cells
that were being analyzed." In her modest lab in the institute, housed in a rundown building, a line
of immobile bloated ticks could be seen lined up with straws under their heads. The small
amounts of saliva captured that way was reproduced many times over in yeast vats so that tests
could be carried out on lab rats with cancer. The results have been more than promising.
"If I treat every day for 14 days an animal's tumor, a small tumor, this tumor doesn't develop -- it
even regresses. The tumor mass shrinks. If I treat for 42 days, you totally eliminate the tumor,"
the scientist said. Producing a medicine from the find, though, will require years of clinical tests
and a significant financial investment -- neither of which Brazil is geared to provide. ChudzinskiTavassi has applied for a patent on the tick protein, and is presenting her team's discovery in
medical journals and conferences around the world.
Question 3
In relation to the patentability of computer programs under the EPC, the EPO developed the socalled any hardware approach.
a. Explain what the any-hardware approach is. (5 points)
b. Is the consequence of the any hardware approach that the technical character of a
software invention has become virtually irrelevant? (5 points)
Question 4
Suppose a patent applicant files for a patent on a nanotech invention. He gives a general
indication of possible future applications for the invention in a research context. Other
applications for the invention are not apparent from the patent application. Is the invention
according to case law of the technical Boards of Appeal of the European Patent Office
patentable? (10 points)
Question 5
What is the difference between an exclusive right and a remuneration right? (4 points)
Question 6
An expression of folklore has been defined as: Productions consisting of characteristic elements
of the traditional artistic heritage developed and maintained by a community in the country or by

individuals reflecting the traditional artistic expectations of such a community (source: Committee
of Governmental Experts on the Safeguarding of Folklore) Why can such expressions not
(always) be protected under copyright? (6 points)
Question 7
Explain to what extent is the salesmans statement true or false in an EU perspective. Motivate
your answer. (10 points)

Question 8
True or false in an EU perspective and why? (20 points)
A. "If it does not have a copyright notice, it is not copyrighted."
B. "If someone puts adds on his personal website, he can also put copyright protected
pictures on it. It will not be violation of copyright."
C. "If someone puts his pictures on his website, it is in the public domain and I can copy
them for free."
D. "If someone does not protect his copyright he will lose it."
E. If someone puts another persons whole article on his own blog, complemented by his
own comments, he does not infringe the other persons copyright.

Question 9
The Philips Remington case was about the relation between shape marks and technology.
a. Explain the difference between the result oriented view and the device oriented view.(5
points)
b. What view did the ECJ choose and why? (5 points)
Question 10
A sui generis database right only comes about if a substantial investment in the obtaining,
verification or presentation of the contents of a database has been made. Explain how the ECJ
interpreted a substantial investment in the obtaining of the contents in Hill/BHRB case of 2004.
(10 points).