Original news and analysis on international IP policy
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La justice américaine reconnaît le caractère exécutoire des licences open source : impact majeur en perspective sur le droit d’auteur aux Etats-Unis
Steven Seidenberg pour Intellectual Property Watch La décision ne fera pas jurisprudence. Néanmoins, selon certains spécialistes de la propriété intellectuelle, le récent jugement de l’affaire Jacobsen contre Katzer aura des conséquences majeures sur le droit d’auteur aux États-Unis. L’affaire Jacobsen…
US Court Finds Open Source Licences Enforceable; Big Impact Seen On US Copyright Law
By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch
The ruling has no precedential value. Nevertheless, the recent decision in Jacobsen v. Katzer will have a major impact on US copyright law, according to IP experts.
Jacobsen held that open source licences can be enforced under US copyright law. "It is first time that a US court of appeals has directly addressed issues about the enforceability of open source licences," said Jim Thatcher, Of Counsel in the Seattle office of Woodcock Washburn. "There isn't anywhere else for [US] courts to turn for guidance on this issue, so they will turn to this case and its logic for the enforceability of open source licensing terms."
"[T]rust me, this is huge," Lawrence Lessig, a copyright expert at Stanford Law School, wrote in his online blog.
Global Patent Filings Continue Rise But May Level Off; Smaller Nations Slipping
By William New
Patent filings continue to rise globally, especially in a few nations, as do problems of high-volume application processing and quality assurance. But more attention is needed to bring smaller economies into the patent system, and patenting may slow down with tough economic times, officials at the World Intellectual Property Organization said last week.