Original news and analysis on international IP policy
BANGKOK - Transnational drug manufacturers’ tactics of obtaining unmerited patent applications have unnecessarily raised healthcare costs and impeded the growth of domestic generic drug industry, costing the Thai government hundreds of millions of dollars, drug access campaigners and local producers have said.
The World Health Organization celebrated its 70th anniversary last month. Since the inception of the organisation, the world has changed, and so have its challenges. The global rise of non-communicable diseases is one example of those challenges, as well as the escalating prices of new medicines and chronic access issues in many countries. The annual World Health Assembly will open on 21 May with an ambitious new General Programme of Work for 2019-2023, which promises 1 billion more people under universal health coverage.
Historicamente, o Brasil se encontra na vanguarda dos países em desenvolvimento, pressionando por um regime de propriedade intelectual (PI) mais equilibrado.
Bastian July writes: In May 1968, the submarine USS Scorpion disappeared after a tour of duty in the North Atlantic. The initial search area was a circle twenty miles wide and thousands of feet deep. Instead of asking one or two experts for input, Navy officer John Craven assembled a large group of independent experts with a wide range of knowledge. The group included mathematicians, submarine specialists, salvage men and many others. Combining their knowledge, Craven was able to estimate the submarine’s likely location. It was found 200 yards from the group’s collective estimate. But can you also turn to the Wisdom of the Crowd when it comes to discovering the fortunes lying hidden in patents?
The annual World Intellectual Property Day (26 April) is dedicated to women this year at the World Intellectual Property Organization. On the occasion, several countries are organising an exhibition and the screening of a film celebrating the life of Hedy Lamarr. Austrian/American actress who was also an inventor.
The Internet of Things is a prototypical technology space, where small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), universities and their spin-outs as well as big corporations alike could constitute a fruitful innovation ecosystem. All these players could thrive in the spirit of Open Innovation, so to collectively re-invent the future of the internet and patents could take the role of promoting tech transfer, knowledge exchange and spur secondary markets for intellectual property.
The European Commission today issued an outline of a European approach on artificial intelligence to "boost investment and set ethical guidelines." The aim is to have a coordinated plan with member states by year's end.
United States Patent and Trademark Office inter partes reviews are legal and do not violate Article III of the Constitution or the 7th Amendment, the US Supreme Court said today. While the decision was expected, practitioners before the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board can now rest easy, as one patent lawyer put it.
Distributed ledger technology, commonly called a Blockchain, has recently become a highly popular term in many different industries for its cost-saving and operational risk reducing potential. In this interview with Intellectual Property Watch, Dominik Thor, the founder of IPCHAIN Database, a startup that focuses on IP protection through the use of Blockchain, explains about the ways this new technology can revolutionise the IP sector.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office today issued a Federal Register notice providing guidance to patent examiners on patent subject matter. The office is seeking public comments on the new guidance.