Original news and analysis on international IP policy
China has set up an administrative office called the Shanghai City Pudong New Area Intellectual Property Office, integrating patent, trademark and copyright administration in the Pudong New Area in Shanghai city.
The fate of a potential treaty meant to harmonise international industrial design registration formalities took another turn this week, as African countries asked that the treaty include a safeguard against misuse and misappropriation of their traditional designs, which was seen by developed countries as a manoeuvre to delay the process.
Alberto Bichi is secretary-general of the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI), based in Brussels. In an interview with Intellectual Property Watch’s Catherine Saez, he describes FESI's mission, the views of the industry on the importance of intellectual property protection, and the growing issue of counterfeiting. He also talked about the industry's concern over the current European Union customs regulation on goods in transit, which, according to him is negatively impacting the sector.
The highly esteemed Center for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) in Strasbourg will mark its 50th anniversary this week with a conference featuring the top names in the European IP community. Below is the press release announcing the event: Conference…
A few days after the first South African case to consider the issue of internet keyword advertising (Cochrane Steel Products (Pty) Ltd v M-Systems Group (Pty) Ltd & Another Case 39605/13, 29 October 2014), we had the next instalment – from the English Court of Appeal – in the dispute between Interflora and Marks & Spencer (Interflora Inc & Another v Marks & Spencer plc [2014] EWCA Civ 1403). Yes, it is, indeed, not just any dispute concerning keyword advertising. It appears that these two litigants have taken it upon themselves to definitively settle the law relating to keyword advertising, through the various judgments their dispute is yielding.
On the first day of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on trademarks and designs the focus was on a proposal from the African Group to include a disclosure requirement in international industrial design applications. Up to now the stumbling block preventing delegates from moving to a high-level treaty negotiation has been technical assistance. This additional parameter might come in the way of swift agreement.
"Nearly one-third of all Silicon Valley start-ups have an Indian-American co-founder," United States Trade Representative Michael Froman said in remarks on India today. The country of India is also innovating, but it must do more to have and enforce a world-class intellectual property rights regime, he said.
For performers and record labels in the United States, it is terrific news. They possess previously unrecognised rights in audio recordings, according to three recent court rulings. But not everyone is pleased about this. The decisions not only upend 75 years of US copyright law, they create big problems for broadcasters, webcasters and many other internet firms, all of whom now face hefty liability for copyright infringement.
By Pamela Passman Economic globalization and digitization of information have revolutionized business and allowed for efficiency that was unimaginable a few decades ago. The ability to share information remotely means companies can coordinate with partners remotely, integrate suppliers, track shipments…
In what may be a test case for trademark owners battling counterfeiters, the UK High Court has ordered five internet service providers (ISPs) to block websites that were advertising and selling bogus goods. The ruling could have implications beyond Britain, the court said. ISPs, meanwhile, said the best way to handle infringing websites is to remove them at source rather than blocking.
Australia this week at the World Trade Organization said the tobacco industry is applying a "well-known tactic" of instilling a "regulatory chill" on WTO members' efforts to implement plain-packaging anti-smoking strategies. It also said pro-tobacco countries should not keep putting the issue on WTO committee agendas while their dispute settlement cases are running their course.
This week, the International Telecommunication Union is holding an event highlighting the UN agency's entry into what it describes as the growing problem of counterfeit and fake information and communication technology (ICT) products. Officials from the neighbouring World Intellectual Property Organization and World Trade Organization remarked during the meeting that counterfeit relates to an intellectual property right infringement, which is a different issue from substandard products.