Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Projects aimed at creating a more interoperable international trademark system are moving forward, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office and the Japan Patent Office (JPO). Among those in the works are the USPTO-led TM5 ID List Project, which USPTO Commissioner for Trademarks Mary Boney Denison said will lead to faster processing of high-quality trademarks around the world.
Over the summer months, people in the intellectual property world continue to circulate. UNITAID has changed heads, and other well-known figures in Geneva set off to new horizons. And no rest it seems for law offices, which maintained their usual level of moves between firms. Here is the latest on People in the IP community.
World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevêdo today said he would consider a second mandate at the head of the organisation. He also described a positive momentum in the organisation in the first semester of 2016, after two successful ministerial conferences, with members coming up with new ideas. About Brexit, potential scenarios are being explored but it seems a lot of renegotiations might be on the United Kingdom's plate.
South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) appears to be meeting its detractors halfway with a new intellectual property consultative framework it says will help pave the way for consultative engagement with IP stakeholders both inside and outside of government.
As the list of countries adopting legislation making the packaging of tobacco products a lot less sexy is growing, the long-awaited decision of a World Trade Organization panel on Australia's decision to enforce such legislation might not be coming before the end of the year. Meanwhile, one of the countries complaining about Australia's legislation has left the fight.
NAIROBI, Kenya (IP-Watch) – Intellectual property rights related to trade and development will continue to be part of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)’s programme work, according to an agreement on the organisation’s four-year mandate reached at the agency’s 14th session in Nairobi.
The tobacco industry’s global efforts to use bilateral and multilateral agreements to challenge the spread of tobacco control measures such as trademark-minimising plain packages were dealt a significant blow last week when the World Bank dispute settlement body dismissed a case brought by Philip Morris against the government of Uruguay.
The decision is seen a landmark for those who view the company as using test cases to continually challenge and delay public health protection measures and discourage other countries, particularly those with fewer resources, from strengthening their health regulations. Additionally, the case reasserted that trademarks are subject to government regulations and also illustrated the role that international organisations and actors can play in support of national governments defending their health measures.
A Wells Fargo bank manager in California worked with two colleagues to conduct a scam targeting trademark holders and launder the proceeds, the United States Department of Justice said today.
NAIROBI, Kenya (IP-Watch) -- A global database on non-tariff measures (NTMs) has been launched here at the 14th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD 14). Also this week the World Investment Forum kicked off, the first such event since agreement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Commission Trade Directorate recently launched a new intellectual property enforcement tool that aims to pool together all data relating to IP rights infringement experienced by EU companies into one database to help build prevention strategies. This is one of many new EU initiatives to counter growing IPR infringement and counterfeits.