Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Despite the widespread view that the flexibilities included in international trade rules are not often used, a new study found that countries make extensive use of those flexibilities.
The European Commission today recommended a set of operational measures against a wide range of online content considered illegal, lumping intellectual property rights-infringing material in with that of terrorists, child sexual abusers, hate speech, and commercial scams.
Teens' (and others') life-altering obsession with video gaming is well-known to almost any parent in most countries around the world, and the World Health Organization recently identified it as an addiction called "gaming disorder." Today, the self-acclaimed $36 billion video gaming industry hit back with a statement about a new paper from "preeminent researchers and scientists" that it says casts doubt on the WHO's efforts.
Native American tribes’ sovereign immunity can’t be used to avoid inter partes review (IPR) of patent validity, the US Patent and Trademark Office Patent and Appeal Board (PTAB) has ruled in a first-of-its-kind case.
A relatively new topic of discussion at the World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property is the relationship between intellectual property and the public interest. This week, WTO delegates discussed the application and benefits of a regulatory exception to IP rights allowing earlier entry of generics to the market, known as the Bolar exception. The committee also heard about a request from least-developed countries (LDCs) to improve technology transfer measures that developed countries have the obligation to provide under WTO rules.
A high-level group of academic experts in intellectual property rights and innovation in the European Union has released a statement highlighting the rise in inventions due to international research and development and says EU regulations on inventorship, assignment and patent filing should be assessed for harmonisation and reducing complexity.
The World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property met this week and gave an opportunity to WTO members to discuss the value of intellectual property for micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), and its importance for IP-intensive industries. Several members, such as the European Union on behalf of its members presented data to illustrate the importance of IP for MSMEs. Meanwhile, India and South Africa remarked that IP is only one factor to promote innovation, but are not a sufficient ingredient.
Dave Davis writes: Section 1201 is a curious little section of the US Copyright Act, added by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. But the matter covered in that section is of great importance in our digital age and, due to its triennial rulemaking requirement, ‘1201’ exceptions are a topic of considerable discussion every few years. As it turns out, 2018 is one of those years.
Copyright “safe harbour” rules aimed at ensuring the free flow of information by internet service providers without liability for infringing content are “distorting the digital market, profiting tech giants and leading to significant underpayment of copyright owners,” according to an…
How to encourage health innovations and make sure that new medicines, vaccines, or diagnostics will reach every person who needs them? That is a question which has been hotly debated in different fora. Yesterday, the World Trade Organization, UN World Health Organization, and UN World Intellectual Property Organization jointly held a symposium on how innovative technologies can promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The WHO director general called on his colleagues to support policies facilitating access to health technologies.
The Wellcome Trust, the London-based biomedical research charity, has issued recommendations for improved scientific collaboration after Brexit, including to establish a formal agreement on research and innovation. This includes continued leadership by the UK on open research, and might include expanding the UK patent box scheme, it says.
The German Federal Constitutional Court has agreed to take up a challenge that could potentially derail the Unified Patent Court (UPC). The special - and opaque - procedure under the national constitution allows a single individual to claim constitutional breaches, said Hogan Lovells (Dusseldorf) patent litigator Clemens Plassmann. The lawsuit leaves the UPC in disarray at least until next year, he said.
Meanwhile, in the never-ending feud between European Patent Office (EPO) management and staff, President Benoȋt Battistelli was forced to back off from a planned rule change that would allow him to fire staff members “if the exigencies of the service require abolition of their post or a reduction in staff.”