Original news and analysis on international IP policy
International trademark applications are on the rise, reflecting economic recovery, as are industrial design applications, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. However, the WIPO system for registering industrial design applications, though showing strong growth, still involves a limited number of countries, according to WIPO’s director general.
Governments meeting last week to discuss a possible new treaty on industrial design harmonisation snagged slightly at the end over how to chart a course to a treaty negotiation, but otherwise reported a smooth week of talks. Officials also agreed to plan a meeting on internet service provider liability.
The World Health Organization expert working group tasked with studying proposals on financing and coordinating research and development for diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries will meet next week. The working group’s path is not easy as it follows a predecessor group that sustained allegations of conflict of interest and lack of transparency.
World Intellectual Property Organization members congregated this week to advance work on a potential treaty on industrial designs, and to look into trademark protection against infringement on the internet, including through social media. But they ended early after nominal progress in these promising new areas for the United Nations agency.
Funding mechanisms and farmers’ rights were among the issues that captured the attention of member countries of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture during the biannual meeting of its Governing Body.
The Public Patent Foundation filed suit yesterday against Monsanto’s patents on genetically modified seeds with farmers asking to be protected against the biotechnology giant’s potential lawsuits in case of accidental contamination from plants grown with its seeds.
Intellectual property is an available space in which any country can compete, but certain policies are helpful, the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization said today. And he described a global geographic shift in innovation away from Europe and the United States.
The committee reviewing the World Health Organization’s response to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and whether the international organisation was unduly influenced by the pharmaceutical industry in its response is working this week to formulate its final report.
The World Intellectual Property Organization went to India last week to highlight the country’s success in creating a digital library of Indian traditional knowledge, which it uses to prevent illegitimate patenting of its resources. But whether WIPO found a way to fit the Indian project into the UN agency’s mission to protect and promote intellectual property rights was unclear.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the Chinese State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) hosted a workshop on biotechnology in Beijing today.
Scientific advances in life sciences, in particular health, are being evaluated by experts this week in Lyon, France, with the stated hope of bringing new answers to global health challenges, such as funding, costs, and innovation.
Google and the European Patent Office have signed a long-term agreement to collaborate on machine translation of patents, according to the EPO.