Category Finance

Gilead’s Use Of Patents For $10B Tax Dodge Could Ignite Move For Policy Change

Gilead is the US company whose use of patents to charge $1000 per pill for a hepatitis C medicine in the United States helped make high drug prices a developed country household issue and fodder for elected officials seeking change. Now the company has come under further fire after being found to have moved some US$10 billion overseas to avoid US taxes - even after having received US taxpayer support for its activities - which it orchestrated by moving its patent rights overseas. A new report detailing the company's tax dodge includes a proposal for a way to clamp down on this type of patent activity.

Post-Huawei v ZTE: Are FRAND Negotiations Finally More Balanced In Europe?

BARCELONA, Spain -- The Huawei v ZTE Case C - 170/13, 21 July 2015 prescribed some guidelines for fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing negotiations, for both standard-essential patent holders and users. A recent private-sector panel addressed European FRAND case law and the latest information and communications technology industry policy opinions, in particular concerning royalty assessment rate (end-user or technology), royalty stacking, patent pool approach and injunctions.

Special Report: Union Lawsuit Claims EPO Has Prevented It From Functioning; Office Claims Immunity

Deteriorating relations between European Patent Office (EPO) management and staff union SUEPO have sparked another lawsuit in the district court in The Hague, Netherlands. The matter, which will be heard in a 15 July summary proceeding, alleges a pattern of threats, dismissals, suspensions from service and gagging of union members, said Prakken d'Oliveira attorney Liesbeth Zegveld, who represents SUEPO and its Dutch branch. Around one-third of union officials have been suspended, investigated or gagged, effectively preventing the union from functioning, she said in an interview.

The lawsuits are just part of the ongoing turmoil affecting the EPO. Reform of the Boards of Appeal (BoA) has also proved controversial, and there are concerns about the reluctance of the Administrative Council to get a grip on the staff-management battle.

The EPO said that, as an international organisation, it has immunity from such suits, as recently held by a German court. It defended its changes to the BoA, and announced an autumn conference for stakeholders to discuss an independent study on office social issues.

Brexit Threatens Legal Uncertainty, Higher Costs For Trademarks, Lawyers Say

Two weeks after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the potential impact of “Brexit” on patents and trademarks is becoming marginally clearer, intellectual property lawyers said in interviews and a 7 July webinar. Among other things, Brexit would delay the EU unitary patent and unified patent court (UPC) and result in great uncertainty –and higher costs -- for trademark owners, they said.

Trade Experts: Financing Not IP Slows Adoption Of Clean Energy Tech

Constraints on financing, restrictions on services and not so much access to technology emerged as one of the biggest challenges in the innovation, deployment and diffusion of clean energy technologies during an unusual session last week in Geneva which brought together climate scientists and trade policy wonks. Technologists and chemical engineers also came together to discuss how unlocking trade could help clean technologies in the context of the implementation of the Paris agreement on climate change.

Russian IP Industry At Center Of Massive Scandal

The Russian IP industry is in the center of a massive scandal, caused by the yesterday’s arrest of Sergei Fedotov, director general of the Russian Authors' Society (RAO), a public association, which is responsible for the collection and distribution of royalties among rights holders, on the suspicion of multi-million dollar theft and withdrawal of funds to abroad.

Russia Centralizes State Power In The Field Of IP Rights

The Russian government has officially adopted a package of measures aimed at tightening state control for the observance of intellectual property rights in the country. This will take place through the introduction of a new system of IP management and implementation of other measures, according to recent statements of Oleg Fomichev, Russia’s deputy minister for economic development.

LinkedIn’s Patent Portfolio; Looking For Hidden Gems

John Sullivan writes: It's obvious that this acquisition isn’t necessarily about the IP assets of LinkedIn. However, let’s have a closer look at LinkedIn’s portfolio to see if there are any hidden gems inside that would represent a nice fringe benefit to what already looks like a mutually beneficial acquisition.

Nearly All Global Physical Counterfeiting Is From China & Hong Kong, US Report Shows

A new analysis released this week by the United States Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) shows that some 86 percent of all physical counterfeiting comes from China and Hong Kong. Companies locating manufacturing there may not be surprised to find counterfeit versions of their products on the market, and seizures are a small fraction of the goods getting into the global trade stream, the report says.