Inventive step takes center stage as different European courts debate over methodologies

Context: The Licensing Executives Society (LES) is a well-respected organization whose efforts to foster respectful debate are appreciated by many members of the IP community. Yesterday, the German, French, and Italian chapters of LES jointly organized, on the German Patent and Trademark Office’s premises, an event (PDF) to mark the Unified Patent Court’s (UPC) third anniversary. ip fray reported on the closing sessions yesterday evening (May 18, 2026 ip fray article), where a UK deputy judge issued what was effectively a thinly veiled antisuit threat against the UPC and the chair of the UPC’s Advisory Committee openly disagreed with the UPC President.

What’s new: A panel on legal standards for the inventive step brought together

• Michel Abello, technically qualified judge (TQJ) at the UPC;
• Elisabetta Papa, TQJ at the UPC;
• Martin Musiol, judge at the German Federal Patent Court (Bundespatentgericht);
• Heli Pihlajamaa, Director of Patent Law at the European Patent Office (EPO);
• Mark Schweizer, President of the Swiss Federal Patent Court.