Original news and analysis on international IP policy
It was another record year in 2012 for cybersquatting cases filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Centre. In addition, WIPO announced results of a survey that show that its mediation services could benefit parties in technology-related disputes.
European Commission plans to update Europe's trademark system are generally good news for mark owners, a member of European brand owners' association MARQUES has said.
Arusha, Tanzania – Pharmaceutical manufacturers in East Africa have joined forces to strengthen their production capacity to meet at least half of the region’s demand for affordable, quality medicines. The East African Community is supporting this ambitious goal through various initiatives, including a regional intellectual property policy to guide partner states on developing national legislation that fosters local pharmaceutical production.
A new report finds that an overview is needed of the fast-tracking patent system on “green” technologies in the countries where this mechanism is in place – in seven industrialised and two developing countries.
Threats of injunction in cases of infringement of essential standard patents, which have raised concerns in Europe and the United States as being leverage for patent holders to get higher royalties, might in fact be a way to maintain an equilibrium in royalty-setting, according to speakers at a World Intellectual Property Organization event.
Lyon, France – Biovision, a biennial international event on life sciences, brought together some 3,000 participants this week to discuss and compare experiences in different fields, including personalised medicine, how best to use natural resources and the impact of climate change on food security. Open innovation was presented as a way forward, and the role of companies in mitigation was deemed important but with ethics.
Former United States Congressman Howard Berman, a California Democrat regarded as a strong proponent of intellectual property rights protection, has joined law firm Covington & Burling LLP's global public policy and government affairs practice.
Attorney Charles Macedo addresses the question: Why did so many patent applicants rush to file patent applications before the America Invents Act (AIA) law changes went into effect - and what might happen if they didn't?
The United States Department of Justice today said it has not yet settled concerns about the possible negative effect on competition of a proposed patent exchange.
Lyon, France – Participants at a the Biovision international life sciences forum aimed at encouraging collaboration and integrating innovation shared experiences and discussed a number of topics including intellectual property strategy, technology transfer and the way forward for sustainable innovation.
A clause unfairly protecting a rum company’s US market by denying trademark rights quietly stuck into a US Congress appropriations bill in the deep of night in the late 1990s continues to haunt the halls of the World Trade Organization – but that does not seem to trouble US trade authorities. And this is not the only intellectual property-related case being met with US indifference, an irony for possibly the biggest proponent of IP rights in the world.
The trade ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) today concluded a framework for cooperation that includes innovation and intellectual property rights, but separately.