By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch
NEW YORK - The Japanese Patent Office in April will introduce a new policy called JP-First, which aims to release patent examination results of applications first filed with the JPO to major patent offices throughout the world, including in some developing countries. The initiative and others could be steps toward allowing patent filers to bypass an established international treaty on patents, sources said. Also at the event, government officials and academics also discussed copyright developments in Canada. US experts argued that Canada is not doing its part to crack down on piracy, while the Canadians said they are actually setting the bar in some areas in terms of protecting copyrighted works.