Category Patents/Designs/Trade Secrets

FTC Recommends Legislative Fixes For Nuisance Patent Lawsuits But Some Question Study

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.

Panel: WIPO Assistance Should Provide Developing Countries With Choices On Plant Variety Protection

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.

Industry Offers Rankings, Recommendations On Illicit Trade In Asia

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.

EU Patent Court Launch Uncertain But Will Happen, Says Preparatory Committee Chief

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.

WIPO General Assembly Agrees On Two New WIPO Offices; No Deal On Design Treaty

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.

WIPO Assembly Adopts Revisions For Stronger Oversight, Protection Of Whistleblowers

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.

Members Still Debating Changes To Oversight At WIPO

Stung by what some saw as a botched process for handling allegations from senior officials about the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO members are working this week to agree on changes to procedures. A new draft text circulated this morning introduces additional responsibility for governments in the process, and is under discussion today. At press time, ambassadors from the African Group were meeting and asked to hold up the process until internal agreement could be reached on the text. The plenary is scheduled to reconvene at four o'clock today.