Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Brainbase, a California tech startup with a team in Estonia, has received US$1M in seed funding to build an "end-to-end product ecosystem for intellectual property licensing" that could change the way businesses manage and licence their brands worldwide. The investment is an indication of dynamic evolution in the IP sector as it takes advantage of latest technologies and the talents of innovators.
The European Council of member states has adopted an all-encompassing plan to make Europe a global leader in artificial intelligence and integrate AI into all aspects of regional life. The plan, which comes as Europe has been identified as lagging in AI research and investment behind the United States and China, includes strong calls to ramp up investment while carefully considering AI's impact on labour and ethics.
The national intellectual property offices of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this week advanced work on developing a regional trademark registration system, according to European Union sources working with them.
The European Council's Romanian presidency announced today it has struck a provisional agreement with the EU Parliament on a draft directive that makes changes to existing European Union copyright rules. The draft agreement, which will go before the full Council of member states and Parliament for approval, would make changes such as a controversial new "publishers' right," and strengthens copyright protections on online content sharing platforms. It also would introduce copyright exceptions for a range of purposes such as text and data mining, online teaching, and cultural heritage.
The Trump administration yesterday made some firm statements about reducing health care and drug prices for American consumers and making costs more transparent. The statements again appear to focus on other countries paying more for US-made drugs but also promote generic drugs.
The government of Malaysia continues to face pressure from the United States pharmaceutical industry and potentially the US government to undo an action taken to make a key hepatitis C medicine more affordable in the country. Now Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) has weighed in to defend the government's right to use a patent flexibility in global trade law that allows them to take such actions on behalf of their citizens.
The World Trade Organization is the prime gathering point for the world's governments to discuss and negotiate on policies of the day. A decades-long swinging pendulum within the WTO's committee on trade and intellectual property is IP's contribution to innovation and economy and its contribution to the public interest. At its meeting this week, the committee will feature discussions on both.
A ground-breaking new high-tech system to catch falsified medicines in the supply chain in Europe went into effect today, allowing prescription medicines to undergo verification for authenticity before reaching patients.
As the blockbuster animated movie Lego Movie 2 gets set to hit screens in the United States this weekend, the World Intellectual Property Organization had a release of its own: a domain dispute ruling against a pirate website purporting to offer a free version of the film for download ahead of the release.
President Donald Trump gave the US Congress a rosy, nationalistic presentation of the condition of the US economy and security last night and amid the range of issues raised, mentioned intellectual property twice in the context of trade, and extensively discussed lowering drug prices.
The Trump administration is taking the US intellectual property enforcement coordinator's role in new directions, building on past administrations but trying to address ways it has not been effective in the past, according to the annual report of the coordinator, released yesterday.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) today announced the launch of the "Pandemic Response Box", which offers researchers open access to 400 compounds that could lead to development of new treatments for pandemic diseases. In return, researchers "will be expected to share data resulting from research on the molecules from the box in the public domain within 2 years of its generation."