Category Finance

Year Ahead: Copyright Issues Top EU IP Policy In 2014

Copyright tops the European Union intellectual property agenda this year, with completion of a collective rights management directive, and European Commission statements on IP rights enforcement and possible revisions to EU copyright rules, due this spring. “Steady progress” on rollout of a unified EU patent and patent court system is expected, and trademark and other issues also figure prominently. But with European Parliament elections in May, and a new Commission in November, the timetables for these and other IP-related issues could shift, the EC and others said.

Global Health 2035 Report: Flawed Projections

Daniele Dionisio writes: Hopes that a comprehensive global health goal could be reached by 2035 are hardly credible with the load of unresolved issues still on the table. This article turns the spotlight on much-debated relevant questions that were left out or under-scrutinised in a recently published Lancet report.

WHO Executive Board Opens With Overcrowded Agenda; Chan Calls For Focus

The World Health Organization Executive Board opened this morning with a packed agenda, which prompted the chair to warn participants to restrict their statements. Director General Margaret Chan described as problematic the temptation to address all public health issues, and encouraged member states to focus on strategic and selective goals. Member countries also expressed concerns about the length of the agenda.

WHO Board To Discuss Relationship With Industry, Organisations

The World Health Organization has been soul-searching for several years since running into deep debt and seeing private organisations gather influence in global public health policy. Next week, the WHO Board will consider a proposal on how to allow the intergovernmental body work with such organisations and industry without giving up its own independence and oversight role.

India: The Full Spectrum On FDI In Brownfield Companies

DG Shah writes: Acquisition of brownfield, or existing, pharmaceutical companies may be seen in different perspectives as greenfield, or new, projects are permitted 100% equity via the automatic route. India has sought FDI mainly to bridge the shortfall in investment or to facilitate the flow of know-how and technology. We must first assess the need of the pharma sector and then evaluate whether mere change of ownership would meet its needs.

Year Ahead: In US, 2014 Promises Bad News For Patent Trolls And Trademark Owners

2013 was an awkward year in the United States for so-called “patent trolls.” These companies, whose primary business is monetising their patents through licensing and litigation, faced growing criticism from academics, business executives, and US government officials. 2014 could prove even worse for trolls: America’s Congress, courts and executive branch are now considering various measures that would make patent trolling more difficult. And those are just some of the major changes that are likely to roil the US IP system this year.

Event: The 6th Annual Corporate IP Counsel Forum

March 19-20, 2014 – Affinia Manhattan – New York City – www.worldcongress.com/corporateIP

Optimize your IP portfolio. In this cross-industry event, the most timely and critical issues will be discussed and analyzed by senior counsel from Bank of America, General Mills, Honeywell, IBM, MLB Advanced Media, MasterCard, S.C. Johnson, and more; providing insight and strategies to help you tackle the latest challenges in IP.

IP-Watch Reader Discount: when reserving your seat, use promo code IPW200 to take $200.00 off the current registration fee.

Top IP-Watch Stories Of 2013: India, Marrakesh Treaty, Seed/Gene Patents, WIPO Election

Looking back on 2013, the list of the most-viewed stories on the Intellectual Property Watch website shows that reporting on activities in India, especially related to patents and public health, continued to draw the most attention. Other top stories were the Marrakesh Treaty on copyright exceptions for blind readers, legal cases involving patents on seeds and on plant and human genes, the election for World Intellectual Property Organization director general, free-trade agreements (including the Wikileaks leak of the IP chapter of the Trans-Atlantic Partnership agreement), Russian copyrights, and 3D printing.

Future Scenarios, IP Tax Evasion, Informal Sector, And Patents In Africa

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – A conference here on intellectual property, innovation and the public interest included a look at different possible futures for Africa, global IP tax evasion schemes, a discussion of the strong informal sector, and some views on the relative weakness of patent quality on the continent.