Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Former United States Congressman Howard Berman, a California Democrat regarded as a strong proponent of intellectual property rights protection, has joined law firm Covington & Burling LLP's global public policy and government affairs practice.
Attorney Charles Macedo addresses the question: Why did so many patent applicants rush to file patent applications before the America Invents Act (AIA) law changes went into effect - and what might happen if they didn't?
The United States Department of Justice today said it has not yet settled concerns about the possible negative effect on competition of a proposed patent exchange.
Lyon, France – Participants at a the Biovision international life sciences forum aimed at encouraging collaboration and integrating innovation shared experiences and discussed a number of topics including intellectual property strategy, technology transfer and the way forward for sustainable innovation.
A clause unfairly protecting a rum company’s US market by denying trademark rights quietly stuck into a US Congress appropriations bill in the deep of night in the late 1990s continues to haunt the halls of the World Trade Organization – but that does not seem to trouble US trade authorities. And this is not the only intellectual property-related case being met with US indifference, an irony for possibly the biggest proponent of IP rights in the world.
The trade ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) today concluded a framework for cooperation that includes innovation and intellectual property rights, but separately.
Starting today, trademark owners from around the world will be able to have their rights recorded in the Trademark Clearinghouse of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Designed to help trademark owners manage the flood of new internet domains being launched by ICANN, it’s an open question whether they will be satisfied with it.
Tanzania is on the road to becoming a member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), but Tanzanian civil society and farmers' organisations have warned about possible detrimental effects on small-holder farmers and have asked government to halt the ratification process until all stakeholders have been consulted.
Following the announcement that the United States and European Union will negotiate a free trade agreement, a comparison of recent US and EU treaties shows differences in their treatment of intellectual property.
On 5 March, the Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Wilmot James, submitted a Private Members’ Bill to the Office of the Speaker entitled the Protection of Traditional Knowledge Bill - a new traditional knowledge bill that would supplant the one recently sent back by the president of South Africa, Cobus Jooste writes.
The United States Congress on 21 March approved US$ 1.65 billion in aid and support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and US$ 4.07 billion for the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The Global Fund also announced a new Board chair and vice-chair.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – Nigeria’s booming film industry, born in an intellectual property-free environment, was presented as a case study of how IP needs may vary depending on context during a recent workshop organised by the US Commerce Department. In parallel, representatives of multinational brands and law enforcement delivered a strong message on the gravity of counterfeit trade, highlighting its link to organised crime.