Original news and analysis on international IP policy
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.
Ongoing concerns in India that their legitimate generic drug shipments are being delayed as potential counterfeits while in transit through Europe may reach the dispute settlement body at the World Trade Organization, according to sources.
The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Edition features top news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the international IP community, news briefs and more. The August/September edition is now available for subscribers.
A group of experts working as a think-tank for the United Nations Human Rights Council raised the issue of patents and food at a meeting this week. Meanwhile, a new report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food expected to be available at the end of August will focus on the intersection between intellectual property and the human right to food.
NEW YORK - Patent lawyers from financial services companies and other firms this week said they are hopeful that change at the US Patent and Trademark Office will bring solutions to their concerns with the business method patents, application backlogs, patent quality problems, transparency and other issues.
Last October, a United States appellate court shifted the country’s patent law dramatically, moving the nation closer to other countries’ standards on what inventions can be patented. The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals (often called America’s “patent court”) overruled its own seminal precedent and sharply cut back on the types of methods and processes that are eligible for patent protection. The ruling put thousands of patents under a cloud, including many business method patents and financial method patents.
This controversial ruling will soon be reviewed by the US Supreme Court. The resulting decision in Bilski v. Doll could become a milestone in US patent law, with repercussions around the world.
The Development Agenda at the World Intellectual Property Organization is a “potentially revolutionary” agreement, according to a book released this month, but whether it will fulfil that promise depends on its implementation into concrete practice, said a panel of academics at the book’s launch.