Category News

Proposals For Single EU Patent Issued; Doubts About EU Patent Court Remain

Legislative proposals for a single European patent emerged from the European Commission this week. If approved by the European Parliament and Council, the measures will make patents granted in one country valid in all participating EU member states and drastically cut the cost of patent protection, the Commission said. Patent lawyers praised the proposals but said the issue of an EU-wide patent litigation court must be resolved first.

Study: Patent Applications Rise On Flu Genetic Resources; Questioning WIPO Report

As a backdrop to World Health Organization members meeting this week in search of a global strategy for future influenza pandemics, the pharmaceutical industry and other actors have been developing a keen interest in patents on influenza genetic resources. A sharp and sustained increase in patent activity on those materials was pointed out by a civil society group in a new report, which it says challenges a recent report by the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Preparing The World For Influenza Pandemic, Industry Role Key, Says WHO

An influenza pandemic is like the sword of Damocles over the world, and the recent H1N1 pandemic showed that the global response was inadequate, said the co-chairs of a World Health Organization group working on influenza pandemic preparedness meeting this week.

Superconductivity Is Celebrated This Year, Further Work Needed To Tame It

A hundred years ago, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and his student Gilles Holst discovered a property that was to launch decades of fervent research to understand the phenomenon: Superconductivity. Today, researchers are still trying to find ways to use this remarkable property, but are celebrating the centenary of its discovery.

WHO Experts On R&D Financing Aim To Find Solutions, With Short Timeline

The search for innovative solutions to engage research and development of health products for diseases that particularly affect developing countries is the core mission of a World Health Organization working group that met this week in a special mostly open session. The group of experts will assess proposals and deliver its recommendations next year.

Study: Change Needed At Plant Varieties Agency; WTO Talks Food Standards

A new study has recommended changes at the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in Geneva, which is seen as having an enormous impact on global agricultural research. Separately, World Trade Organization members recently discussed the trade impact of private standards for food.

WIPO Slowly Advances Industrial Design Treaty, Eyes ISP Liability For Trademarks

Governments meeting last week to discuss a possible new treaty on industrial design harmonisation snagged slightly at the end over how to chart a course to a treaty negotiation, but otherwise reported a smooth week of talks. Officials also agreed to plan a meeting on internet service provider liability.

A Special Day: WIPO’s Vision Gets A Little Fuzzy

In a surprise and fully uncorroborated development, it appears that World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry has been named a new contributor to an illustrious IP blog. The announcement came at the same time as news that WIPO will likely embark on wishing for an annual crackdown list of global IP blogs deemed to be inadequately living up to the highest levels of intellectual property protection and decorum.

WIPO Says Cybersquatting Filings Sharply Up, Watches ICANN’s Domain Name Expansion

Filing complaints about cybersquatting, which the World Intellectual Property Organization defines as the “abusive registration of trademarks as domain names,” is on an upward trend, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said today. Meanwhile, WIPO also launched a review of its dispute panellists.