Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Swiss innovation is internationally recognised for its high quality, and the reasons may derive from its fiscal system, labour market, research and development (R&D) model and education policy, a senior Swiss official has said.
A report released yesterday by the non-profit ETC Group claims that six companies are seeking to control current priorities and the future direction of agricultural research. According to the report, giant seed companies are launching initiatives to preserve their IP rights and deflate antitrust concerns.
For the third year in a row, the United States mission to the United Nations in Geneva brought together human rights activists from different parts of the world in an effort to promote internet freedom. At a press briefing, a senior US State Department official described efforts to address challenges to freedom on the internet, and said that intellectual property in the context of internet is a complicated issue.
In its meeting this week, the World Trade Organisation intellectual property committee heard again about the issue of plain packaging of tobacco products, as New Zealand is proposing to introduce such a regime in the country. Economic and health interests were used by those opposed and proponents to the measure.
The World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property rights met this week and addressed a request by least developed countries for an extension of the period to enforce WTO intellectual property rules. LDCs want that the extension be extinguishable only after a country ceases to be considered as 'least developed', which developing countries largely supported. Developed countries, however, were hesitant about the terms of the proposed extension.
As a reference for IP-Watch subscribers, a substantive list of government delegates, alphabetised by country, responsible for intellectual property issues in Geneva.
Intellectual Ventures (IV) announced today that another settlement has been reached in one of its three patent infringement cases involving nine manufacturers in the semiconductor industry.
A majority of leading firms in IP-related industries are foreign-owned, according to a new report, which argues that this should change the focus of US policymakers on domestic IP protection.
At a recent conference jointly organised by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID, Geneva) and the Museum of Art and History of Geneva, academics tackled the question of the preservation of culture - in its natural and cultural dimension - against the risks of globalisation.
The European Patent Office today announced that 2012 saw a new record for patent filings in the office, and equating the rise to Europe’s “innovative powers”. But while 36.5 per cent of applications came from Europe, the fastest growth was in applications from Asia, particularly China, Korea and Japan. Korean firm Samsung took top honours for most filings, the first time for an Asian company, and a Chinese company, ZTE, broke into the top 10 for the first time.
Courts in the United States are beginning to interpret a Copyright Act of 1976 provision allowing authors of protected works to terminate their rights assignments beginning this year. Intellectual property attorneys appear to differ over the importance of the recent rulings, but they agree that the battle line in termination cases between the recording industry and artists will be drawn over whether or not a piece of music was created for hire.
The United States Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case opposing a US farmer to agro-industry giant Monsanto on the issue of patent exhaustion in patented seeds. Lead lawyers in the case and others offered comments on the heels of the hearing, while the Supreme Court Justices are considering the arguments and are expected to reach a decision sometime this spring.