Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The government of Antigua and Barbuda is said to be taking steps to set up a platform to allow the tiny Caribbean nation to monetise or otherwise take advantage of the suspension of US intellectual property rights, as it is permitted to do by a World Trade Organization dispute panel. The WTO panel had ruled that Antigua could make up its loss in IP rights for US measures blocking Antiguan online gambling in the US.
The European Commission wants feedback from interested parties on a proposal by Samsung Electronics to resolve an antitrust investigation. The case relates to Samsung's efforts to enforce standard essential patents (SEPs) it owns for mobile communications technology. SEPs are patents that protect technologies essential for the implementation of an industry standard developed by a standard-setting organisation.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) yesterday approved the US International Trade Commission’s ban on imports of certain electronics from Samsung, based in part on the fact that the patents in the case do not involve standard essential patents (SEPs). By contrast, concern over SEPs was a big reason for the recent White House decision to overturn a USITC finding that Apple had violated Samsung’s patents.
Indonesia has become the fifth country to initiate dispute settlement procedures at the World Trade Organization challenging an Australian public health law requiring tobacco products to be sold in plain packages as a way to discourage their use.
Several negotiators and other stakeholders participating in last June’s successful negotiation of an international treaty to ease access to reading material for blind and visually impaired people recently gathered in Washington, DC to look back on the remarkable and at-times bitter talks. Months later, not all agree on certain historical details, such as the US position, but all agree it was a significant accomplishment.
Patent assertion entities in the United States have done well from software patents. These companies, which some call “patent trolls,” have garnered a clear majority of their revenues by licensing software patents and suing those who refuse to purchase licences. But these companies’ reliance on software patents may be coming to an end. In recent years, these companies are increasingly exploiting business method patents, and by doing so are targeting a much larger range of businesses, according to a recently released study.
More than 45 percent of all patent lawsuits in the United States in 2013 have been filed in two locations, with Delaware taking top spot over the Eastern District of Texas, according to a mid-year analysis.
On the anniversary of the patent reform legislation in the United States, a US service that uses patent pools to help companies fight litigation by patent assertion entities (PAEs or patent trolls) today (17 September) announced an inter-partes review of a patent used widely in litigation by a leading PAE.
The civil society collective formed to pressure the South African government to reform its patent act has cautiously welcomed the release of the country’s draft intellectual property policy.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York today issued an order regarding a remedy to address Apple Inc.'s pricing of e-books, requiring the company to change its agreements with publishers with which it was found to have fixed prices.
Microsoft has claimed victory in its high-profile trial asserting that phone maker Motorola failed to licence its standard-essential patents under internationally recognised fair and reasonable terms. And the hand-marked jury card from the outcome in federal court in Seattle, Washington shows the unanimous decision.
The Geneva-based Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) recently published a "guidance resource for the negotiation of fair research contracts in collaborative research partnerships." The guide includes several basic considerations on intellectual property rights for contract negotiators.