Google Reluctantly Joins Patent Craze
Internet giant Google today announced it is taking an "if-you-can't-beat-'em, join 'em" attitude on patents and innovation by moving defensively to boost its patent portfolio.
Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Internet giant Google today announced it is taking an "if-you-can't-beat-'em, join 'em" attitude on patents and innovation by moving defensively to boost its patent portfolio.
In yet another sign that this day is full of surprises, the Free Software Foundation Europe has announced that it is offering a special cutting-edge "analogue printer" device, which can print any colour, 3D, underwater, and all file formats.
Filing complaints about cybersquatting, which the World Intellectual Property Organization defines as the “abusive registration of trademarks as domain names,” is on an upward trend, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said today. Meanwhile, WIPO also launched a review of its dispute panellists.
A week into his new job as CEO and Chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), former Senator Chris Dodd gave his "inaugural" speech salted with jabs at China and websites that carry movie content without authorisation of the rights holders.
The expert group at the World Health Organization looking for ideas to fund research into diseases disproportionately affecting poor populations will open up its first meeting next week to public input. Participants can register for the open sessions until Monday, 4 April at noon. Proposals for a presentation to the group are due by Friday, 1 April at noon.
As officials gather this week to continue negotiations for a trade agreement among countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, a multi-country set of non-governmental organisations and academics urged a United Nations-appointed official to intervene, on grounds that the trade deal will severely impact the public health of poor populations in those countries.
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.
A conference of the Yale Law School Information Society Project held 25-26 March exposed the underlying thinking of major advertising players like Google, the Wall Street Journal and others. You may be surprised what they revealed about the use of your personal data, but then again, you may be more empowered than you thought to control your relationship to pervasive big advertising, which, it appears, is here to stay.
The research-based pharmaceutical industry is working to bring a fresh face to the international public health policy arena in Geneva, most recently through a new initiative on technology transfer. Working through the industry’s Geneva-based trade association, the effort to be seen in a more positive light comes after years of doubts about the transparency of its involvement in these issues and could change the tenor of international negotiations.
Knowledge Ecology International, an influential Washington, DC-based non-governmental group working on public health and knowledge access issues, has added a new staff attorney.
A list of briefs were filed Friday in support of maintaining the high standard in the United States for questioning the validity of patent. The decision of the Supreme Court expected in the coming months could have a major impact on patent law.
US software-maker Microsoft today filed lawsuits for patent infringement against bookseller Barnes & Noble and its makers of Android-based electronic book reader and tablet devices.