Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A handful of influential members of the United States Congress have sent a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, urging the Obama administration not to support the re-election of World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry.
Patent assertion entities in the United States have done well from software patents. These companies, which some call “patent trolls,” have garnered a clear majority of their revenues by licensing software patents and suing those who refuse to purchase licences. But these companies’ reliance on software patents may be coming to an end. In recent years, these companies are increasingly exploiting business method patents, and by doing so are targeting a much larger range of businesses, according to a recently released study.
More than 45 percent of all patent lawsuits in the United States in 2013 have been filed in two locations, with Delaware taking top spot over the Eastern District of Texas, according to a mid-year analysis.
A member of the UK Parliament active in promoting intellectual property rights has been named the UK prime minister's adviser on IP with a focus on enforcement.
At the end of a two-day conference in Switzerland, open knowledge experts emphasised the role of open data in strengthening science findings’ credibility, fostering medical research and enhancing sustainable development.
On the anniversary of the patent reform legislation in the United States, a US service that uses patent pools to help companies fight litigation by patent assertion entities (PAEs or patent trolls) today (17 September) announced an inter-partes review of a patent used widely in litigation by a leading PAE.
A new report released by the Yale Global Health Justice Partnership looks at the use of human rights to improve access to medicines by reducing the barriers that intellectual property laws create to such access.
La Oficina Nacional de Propiedad Industrial (ONAPI) de la República Dominicana “está trabajando” en una base de datos que facilitaría el acceso a información sobre las solicitudes de patentes presentadas en el país. Actualmente, obtener esa información puede ser costoso y complicado.
Infojustice.org writes: On August 28, a group of members of the Peruvian legislature – the Parlamentario Acción Popular-Frente Amplio – proposed a motion that asks for greater transparency in the Trans Pacific Partnership Negotiations. Specifically, the motion seeks “a public, political, and technical debate on the proposals of the Trans-pacific Partnership” and requests “the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism and the technical team in charge of the Trans-pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations to report on the matter.”
The United States government is undertaking substantive review of, and strategy for, its intellectual property system, with an eye toward a major overhaul of aspects such as copyright. And stakeholders are leaping at the opportunity to comment.
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates last week stumbled on a number of issues while discussing the programme and budget of the organisation, leaving to the annual WIPO General Assembly convening next week the task of breaching differences. Particular issues included proposed new WIPO external offices, the programme on small and medium-sized enterprises and innovation, and development expenditure.
In-depth discussions and revisions of programmes did not speed up the decision-taking of World Intellectual Property Organization delegates trying to approve the programmes and budget of the organisation this week. Heading into the final day, consensus was elusive on some items such as the establishment of external offices, or a reporting mechanism for the programme on intellectual property and global challenges.