Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch Qatar has nearly doubled its research funding in a bid to create more intellectual property rights (IPRs) and promote the commercialisation of research. In a bid to promote advanced knowledge and education at…
By William New World Intellectual Property Organization members addressing international patent policy this week may end work early after an apparent agreement to recommend the continuation of the committee next year and a possible focus on some 20 issues. The…
By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch
The United States has once again chipped away at patent rights. The country's highest court recently handed down a ruling that makes it harder for patent owners to impose limits on downstream users of their inventions.
The US Supreme Court's decision in Quanta Computer Inc. v. LG Electronics Inc., however, fails to address a major issue facing patent owners and their legal counsel: Can patent owners use conditional sales or licensing agreements to impose restrictions on downstream users?
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch PARIS – Some think the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers should have moved much faster to introduce new names in the internet to join the likes of .com and .org. Others…
By Kaitlin Mara The World Intellectual Property Organization committee charged with discussing international patent law kicked off its first formal meeting in three years today with the election of a Chilean chair and the start of work on a WIPO…
By Catherine Saez Trademark owners seeking to broaden their products’ scope of protection are increasingly turning to registering non-traditional trademarks, according to the International Trademark Association (INTA) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). However, trademark offices do not show…
By Kaitlin Mara Uganda this week submitted a plan for addressing its priority needs on trade and intellectual property to the World Trade Organization committee on IP, making the nation the first least-developed country to lay out a detailed strategy…
By Kaitlin Mara The World Intellectual Property Organization committee charged with coordinating relationships between national patent regimes will meet next week for the first time since an informal session in April 2006. It is the first formal convening since June…
By Bruce Gain for Intellectual Property Watch The decision by Virgin recording company to send warning letters to alleged music pirates earlier this month appears out of sync with the approach internet service providers in the United Kingdom and elsewhere…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
New United States Patent and Trademark Office procedural rules governing ex parte appeals of rejected patent applications before the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences (BPAI) have met with resistance from some patent attorneys, who argue they are unfair, unnecessary and will hurt smaller and foreign patent applicants. The USPTO said it adopted the rules, effective 10 December 2008, to streamline the handling of a growing number of such appeals.
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 Kaitlin Mara The World Trade Organization intellectual property committee will meet next week in the midst of a tense round of trade talks where efforts to move closer to consensus are continuing and the inclusion of some IP-related issues…