Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch With Egypt’s recent approval of the cultivation and commercialisation of a pest-resistant corn variety that marked the first legal introduction of genetically modified crops into the Arab world, the Egyptian scientific community is…
By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch Iran has adopted a new law on the “registration of inventions, industrial designs and trademarks” in a bid to come to grips with the fast-paced changes in the world of trade and industry…
By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch BRUSSELS – The ‘fragmented’ nature of Europe’s patent application system is harming small firms, a Brussels event has been told amid new efforts to harmonise it. Ever since the early 1970s, the European…
General Electric’s Ecomagination is an initiative launched in 2005 as a gathering/focal point for extant green technology as well as new research and development into clean technology. Ecomagination’s products include technologies for cleaner energy, notably wind turbines for collecting wind…
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch
WASHINGTON, DC - A careful balance must be struck between ensuring the quality of the United States patent system - and the patents themselves - and antitrust law to ensure that new technologies and services can be brought to market, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, experts said in Washington Monday.
"Imbalance can result in less competition, less innovation," Deborah Garza, deputy assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice's antitrust division, said during a meeting of the Intellectual Property Owners Association.
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
A United States Patent and Trademark Office procedure for third-party patent challenges is in turmoil and needs rethinking, an investigation by an independent think tank has found. Though few in number so far, inter partes reexaminations are increasingly used in conjunction with, rather than as an intended replacement for, patent infringement litigation. On top of that, the USPTO is taking years to resolve the cases, leaving business plans in disarray.
The USPTO said it is working to cut delays in the system.
By Kaitlin Mara The World Trade Organization on Monday released two reports on the state of play in negotiations on a register for geographical indications (GIs) – product names associated with places and characteristics – as well as the possible…
Por Claudia Jurberg para Intellectual Property Watch RÍO DE JANEIRO – Hace poco, el Tribunal Supremo de Brasil aprobó, por un margen estrecho de 6 a 5, la investigación sobre células madre embrionarias, luego de analizar el tema durante tres…
By Claudia Jurberg for Intellectual Property Watch RIO DE JANEIRO – After three days of consideration, the Brazilian Supreme Court last week approved by a narrow 6 to 5 margin research involving embryonic stem cells. The 29 May vote followed…
By Kaitlin Mara Government negotiators meeting in Bonn this week reached breakthroughs on two intellectual property-related areas of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). At the highest level of the CBD membership, agreement was struck on a way…