Category IP Policies

US High Court Muddies Rule On Design Patent Damages

The United States Supreme Court yesterday provided a big victory for Samsung – and common sense, according to many experts. The high court ruled that Samsung need not pay $399 million in damages – all the company’s profits from 11 models of smartphones – simply because one or two tiny components of those phones infringed design patents owned by Apple. But Samsung isn’t out of the woods yet. Because despite the importance of today’s Supreme Court decision, the high court left an even more important issue unresolved.

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TPP May Be Dead – But Its Impact Lingers

Despite the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being - to all-intents-and-purposes - dead in the water, pursuit of some of the most egregious objectives of the corporate interests driving the TPP agenda rolls on. Pharma is persisting in its push for countries to adopt not just TRIPS-Plus, but in some cases even TPP-Plus intellectual property rules - presumably groundwork for the later emergence of a ‘son-of-TPP’ agreement, three authors write.

WIPO Committee On Traditional Knowledge Agrees On Revised Text For Further Discussions

World Intellectual Property Organization delegates last week agreed on a revised set of draft articles to be further discussed at the next session of the committee working on a potential treaty to protect traditional knowledge. Views differed on the achievements of the week. For the proponents of a binding treaty, the text reflects a better understanding of issues, and some reduction in differences. However, for some developed countries not in favour of a treaty, gaps are still wide open and much work remains.

ILO Decisions Said To Confirm EPO Staff Lack Fair Legal System

The International Labour Organization Administration Tribunal (ILO-AT) on 30 November set aside two European Patent Office (EPO) decisions rejecting employee challenges to various internal rules. The judgments, which sent the complaints back to the EPO on the grounds that they had not been handled by the proper authorities, highlight the lack of a “fair and functioning” legal system for EPO staff, said an employee source who asked to remain anonymous.

Helping Patenters In A Sea Of PAEs: Interview With LOT Network’s Ken Seddon

Patent assertion entity (PAE) activity has skyrocketed in the past decade and much discussion has occurred around what to do in response to patent holders whose strategy is more focused on legal battles than innovating. One notable group has risen up to bring together global companies to address the PAE issue with a novel sharing approach. In an interview with Intellectual Property Watch, Ken Seddon, CEO and President of LOT Network, talks about the group's rapid growth, what's coming next, and how not to bring a squirt gun to a nuclear fight.