Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Intellectual Property Organization will need the help of national intellectual property offices - and need to listen to their needs as well - if Development Agenda implementation is to be effective outside of Geneva, participants on a panel said last week.
Javier Fernandez of CropLife Latin America argues the importance of protection of regulatory data and its relevance to the bid for food security.
A recent two-day conference of the World Intellectual Property Organization on IP infrastructure also served as a campaign platform of sorts for several candidates vying to be the next head of the European Patent Office in Munich starting in mid-2010.
Google’s court settlement in the United States that could allow the search engine giant to sell scanned books online is increasingly coming under fire prior to the final hearing in the matter next month. Government entities and groups in the United States and in Europe that oppose the settlement could, at the very least, temporarily derail Google Book Search, according to sources.
COPENHAGEN - Technology transfer is bound to be part of a possible new international climate deal at the high-level meeting in Copenhagen in December, according to officials. Meanwhile, international economists have concluded that such transfers constitute a win-win situation for developed and developing countries when it comes to combating climate change.
Four recent Federal Circuit decisions suggest that small molecules are special and may be relatively unaffected by the US Supreme Court KSR decision, write Photon Rao and George Best.
Intellectual Property Watch asked Kanayo Nwanze of the International Fund for Agricultural Development to explain how to best create incentives for technology development aimed at helping smallholding farmers, how to achieve agricultural growth without damaging the environment, and how to use intellectual property to forward those goals.
The third amendment of China's patent law will enter into force from 1 October, 2009. In this article, Wenting Cheng explores the major changes in substantive requirements for patent grant, post grant enforcement and adaptation of Chinese patent law to international norms on the protection of intellectual property.
The World Trade Organization has issued an arbitration report in a dispute between the United States and Brazil over US cotton subsidies, giving Brazil the right to use trade countermeasures against the US, and in certain circumstances to suspend intellectual property obligations.
A website providing unlimited music and movies for a token price is seeking to take advantage of a 2007 World Trade Organisation ruling between the Caribbean nations of Antigua and Barbuda and the United States, which granted Antigua the right to suspend some US intellectual property rights obligations. The action raises questions about implementation of cross-retaliation rulings, in which the complaining country can seek damages in a different sector than that in which the harm was incurred.
A recent lawsuit involving patents on human genes related to cancer brought against the United States patent office, a biotechnology company and a foundation has attracted international attention to the issue of gene patenting, and on 27 August a group of influential associations voiced their opposition to such patents.
Google’s settlement in the United States of copyright infringement claims by authors and book publishers faces strong opposition from European publishers. The deal does not apply to books outside the US and one Google official has suggested the need for a similar service in Europe. Could digital library Europeana be the solution? A 28 August European Commission policy statement addressed that concern and others.