Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Martin Bijman, Director, Intellectual Property Products , TechInsights Successfully pursuing the monetization of IP assets requires an accurate assessment of their value and position within the marketplace. Essentially, monetizing a patent portfolio includes four key steps: Developing an accurate…
The socioeconomic impact driverless cars are expected to have is often compared to that of the internet, or going further back in time, to the industrial revolution. As fleets of vehicles that pilot themselves approach commercial rollout thanks to developments in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and other technologies; original equipment manufacturers are aggressively filing patents for their self-driving vehicle designs. These players include General Motors and its Cruise Automation subsidiary, German automotive supplier Bosch, Ford, which owns a stake in driverless car start-up Argo AI; and Google sister company Waymo.
NEW YORK -- The music community in the United States has a wide copyright agenda covering various business issues and stakeholders. While it had entertained the notion that a new President with its new administration and Congress would be more sympathetic to the complex needs of the industry, it is still waiting for the Trump administration to act on copyright issues, judging from comments made by various stakeholders in the legislative process during an industry panel in New York this week.
WASHINGTON, DC -- The still-emerging breakthrough CRISPR gene editing tool has the potential to transform the field and do enormous good for humankind. But let’s make sure we understand it better and ensure the public interest before launching into using it too widely. Meanwhile, companies and researchers are actively licensing the technology. That was a message of a set of panellists working close to CRISPR’s development, speaking at a recent event in Washington, DC.
With a vote in the lead European Parliament committee imminent on European Commission plans to revamp copyright rules, industry stakeholders, digital rights activists and even some EU member states are troubled by various legislative amendments and EU Presidency compromise proposals.
Heading into the final stretch of the year, it is a good time to catch up on all of the staff changes that have occurred in governments, industry, law firms and nongovernmental organisations related to the IP community in Geneva. Here is a rundown of some of top moves made by people since the start of the year.
In recent days, the Indian news media has been awash with stories about a patent granted within a record 113 days. The norm, till very recently, was anywhere between three to five years and sometimes more. However, change is in the air.
Geneva, Switzerland is the gathering point for the world's governments to set international policy and practices relating to intellectual property rights, as they cut across many of the public policy issues of the day (eg innovation, trade, internet, health, food), including at the World Intellectual Property Organization, World Trade Organization and World Health Organization. Everyone has a stake in what governments and their stakeholders do in these venues. But who do you talk to in order to get your message through? Now Intellectual Property Watch has fully updated its unique list of the diplomats representing many of the key nations in those institutions in Geneva. Available here for subscribers only!
Tim Wise writes: In late July, a short article was published in a Malawian newspaper: “Press Release on Organization of Seed Fairs.” Issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development, in conjunction with the Seed Traders Association of Malawi, the short statement advised the public that “only quality certified seed suppliers registered with Government to produce and/or market seed should be allowed to display seed at such events.” The release was signed by Bright Kumwembe for the Agriculture Ministry.
I received this news in the United States as I prepared a research trip to Malawi, and I was shocked. Malawi is in the final stages of a multi-year effort to reform its seed policy and laws, and the largest point of contention at this point is the failure of the draft policy to recognize and protect so-called “farmers’ rights” to save, exchange, and sell the seeds they grow on their farms.
Gilead’s announcement today that they would include four middle-income countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Belarus, Ukraine) in their sofosbuvir voluntary licence was a welcome surprise, and will enable millions access to their highly effective, but exorbitantly priced, drug. The decision to include these countries, however, no doubt is a response to increasing pressure from within these countries to either issue a compulsory licence (CL) or a government use licence (GUL), invalidate the sofosbuvir patents, or block data exclusivity for the drug.
Intellectual Property Watch recently conducted an interview with Ben Sobel, law and technology researcher, teacher, and fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Sobel has focused his research on copyright and the fair use doctrine, in particular in the context of artificial intelligence (AI). Below, he shares his views on expressive machine learning, “the fair use dilemma” and “Big Content versus Little Users”. The most pressing copyright question has to do with AI readers, not AI authors, according to Sobel.
It’s been another dismal term for the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Six of its patent law decisions were reviewed in the US Supreme Court’s 2016-17 term, and the Federal Circuit’s decisions were overturned in all six cases. That, unfortunately, is not surprising. Over the past 15 years, the tribunal once known as the nation’s “patent court” has seen many of its most important patent law decisions reversed by the Supreme Court– sometimes in withering opinions. This has seriously undermined the Federal Circuit’s power, reputation, jurisprudence, and (apparently) self-confidence – causing a major problem for the United States’ patent system.