Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The year 2006 was “a very good year” for the international trademark system with a record number of filings, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). China and Russia were the favourite countries in…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The European Parliament this week passed a resolution on cross-border collective rights management asking for a framework directive at the EU level that would encourage more competition. But parliamentary members of the bigger…
By Stephen Flug for Intellectual Property Watch The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said there was a 25 percent increase in “cybersquatting” complaints – the registering and use of domain names to profit from another party’s trademark – last year…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch
For the third time since December, the European Parliament committee vote on an EU directive on criminal sanctions against infringers of intellectual property rights has been postponed. This is a signal that there are great difficulties with the text, say observers from non governmental organisations, who argue that the European Commission should kill it or rewrite it from scratch.
But a compromise is near, according to the vice chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (JURI), Rainer Wieland (EPP).
By William New The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on 5 March announced a new report it said shows that distributors of the most popular filesharing programmes “repeatedly deployed features that they knew or should have known could…
By William New An informative event this week pitted key proponents of opposite views on how to best protect the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical companies while also addressing the needs of poor patients around the world unable to afford…
By William New A high-profile researcher in the United States this week presented analysis showing that work needs to be done to improve flows of technology transfer to developing countries, and is related to intellectual property rights. The author, Professor…
By Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch
When should a patent be considered higher quality? Qualcomm, the United States mobile technology firm at the heart of countless patent infringement court cases, has justified the royalties it charges on mobile phone patents in a paper released earlier this month.
By William New A well-balanced colloquium at the World Intellectual Property Organization allowed views from two sides to be heard on the subject of flexibilities in the patent system. The presenters at the 16 February event appeared to split along…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen and William New
Patents are bound to be another hot issue this year. But although many parties are pushing for changes in this area - from global patent harmonisation and proposals for better patent protection of biodiversity and traditional knowledge, to ways to control soaring patent filings, to national reform of patent laws - actual implementation of these changes may be harder to obtain.
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen One of the companies whose patent may be overruled by Thailand’s issuance of a compulsory license said it was caught off-guard by the Thai move, which was aimed at reducing drug prices. The Thai government…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen As a case challenging India’s patent law proceeds this week, pressure is building from politicians, religious leaders and civil society on Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to withdraw the case in the name of public health,…