Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Outgoing United States Trade Representative Michael Froman in Geneva today gave a look back and ahead for the multilateral trading system and the World Trade Organization. His prediction was pragmatic and optimistic.
LONDON -- Procedural and substantive legislative reforms are needed to keep nuisance patent infringement lawsuits at bay, the United States Federal Trade Commission said in an October report. The question is whether the size of the study on activities of “patent assertion entities” (PAEs) was large enough to prove there's a problem, say some patent attorneys, including speakers at the 13-14 October London IP Summit.
A side event to last week’s annual General Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization looked at ways for developing countries to design sui generis system for protecting new varieties of plant. The event also looked into the technical assistance provided by WIPO, which, according to the groups, focuses only on the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) system.
Audiovisual producers at a side event to the recent World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies shared experiences and exchanged best practices in the use of copyright and related rights’ frameworks. Speakers said they seek an enabling environment, where makers of audiovisual works can achieve economic sustainability and contribute to local employment and growth through the creation and supply of local audiovisual works.
Calls for the international community to promote and strengthen the protection of geographical indications and country names on the internet were made at the first side event of the annual General Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization that ended last week.
Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong lead the way on preventing illicit trade, followed by Japan and South Korea, according to an industry index released this week. China came in slightly above midpoint on the index, while Lao and Myanmar were at the bottom. Among the recommendations by industry were to establish custom information systems and infringement procedures to deter illicit trading. Intellectual property protection was rated as fundamental in the fight against such trade.
LONDON -- Britain's vote to leave the European Union is just another “speed bump” along the path to a European unified patent and patent court, the head of the committee tasked with preparing the way for the new system said during a lively session at the 13 October London IP Summit. Others aren't so sure, since Brexit has raised many complex questions, not least of which is whether there is the political will in the UK or EU to move ahead.
The German Constitutional Court in a fast-track decision today rejected the granting of emergency injunctions against a German signature of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) of Europe with Canada.
The somewhat puzzling suspense around which countries would be home to new country offices of the World Intellectual Property Organization was partially resolved as the annual WIPO General Assembly came to end yesterday after working till dawn on the bureaucratic issue. Only two candidates out of six could be agreed upon, both in Africa: Algeria and Nigeria. WIPO member states also agreed to amend the organisation’s oversight charter. But they had no luck on the decision to hold a high-level meeting to conclude a treaty on industrial designs.
The term “Open” in science is all the rage these days.
After much negotiation, amendments to a World Intellectual Property Organization internal oversight mechanism were adopted today by the annual WIPO General Assembly. Under the amendments, investigating allegations of wrongdoing of high-ranking WIPO officials will be made more transparent and facilitate access to documents by WIPO member states in case of an investigation.
With management-staff relations at the European Patent Office still spiralling downward, staff members are pressing the office's governing council to consider adopting proposed disciplinary and investigation guidelines currently under discussion in the World Intellectual Property Organization.