Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Filing of financial patents seems to be on a parallel upward trend with litigation in the United States, with large companies being prime targets, and individual or small entities owning the patents, according to a well-known US economist. This could be the consequence of low quality patents being granted, he said.
The United States Supreme Court yesterday handed down an important patent law ruling. By a narrow 5-4 vote, the court held in Bilski v. Kappos that business methods are patentable under US law. But the court provided only limited guidance on how to determine which business methods (and other types of inventions) are indeed patentable.
In the run-up to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in South Africa, sometimes described as the biggest marketing event in the world, there have been a number of instances where FIFA and local businesses have conflicted over the use of terms to advertise their products.
Legally speaking, there is "little doubt" that Google's collection of WiFi data by its roving Street View vehicles violates the Swiss Data Protection Act, and the company is likely to come under new scrutiny in Switzerland possibly even resulting in "severe financial consequences," a respected Swiss law firm has said.
Google's ambitious plans to make published books available for download on most internet-connected electronic devices by leveraging its position as the world's largest search engine could have far-reaching repercussions on electronic publishing and book file-sharing in the near future.
MUNICH - Whether strengthening patent protection and extending data exclusivity is the way to more innovation in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic sector was the subject of a recent conference here.
The second edition of the Consumers International IP Watchlist has been published, with the conclusion that consumers are bearing collateral damage to the enforcement push by entertainment and media lobby groups encouraging stringent national legislations. Copyright laws and enforcement are changing, but mostly for the benefit of right holders, said the advocate group which encourages copyright exceptions.
IBM fait l’objet d’une plainte pour concurrence déloyale portée devant la Commission européenne par l’éditeur d’un logiciel open source, qui accuse le géant de l’informatique d’empêcher les consommateurs d’utiliser ce logiciel. Au même moment, la communauté open source craint que le fait qu’IBM, développeur de logiciels open source de premier plan, revendique ses droits de propriété intellectuelle pour barrer la route à un concurrent ne représente une menace pour les logiciels libres et open source, et ne conduise à anéantir les revendications de propriété intellectuelle émises par d’autres acteurs. IBM, pour sa part, réaffirme son soutien à la communauté open source et demande à l’entreprise concurrente d’expliquer dans quelle mesure le logiciel en question n’enfreint pas ses droits de propriété intellectuelle.
Two shareholders in a Pennsylvania company with patents key to third generation (3G) mobile communications want the US Department of Justice to investigate European mobile phone manufacturers Nokia and Ericsson and others for failing to pay royalties for use of the technology. Antitrust scrutiny is needed to prevent the same thing from happening as the next generation of mobile phones rolls out, Richard Monahan and Kent Greene say.
Computer giant IBM is facing an antitrust claim before the European Commission brought by an open source software company alleging that IBM is preventing customers from using that software. Meanwhile, the open source community is worried that the use of intellectual property rights by IBM - a leading open source software maker – to block a competitor will endanger free and open source software and might uncap other IP rights claims from other players. IBM, for its part, is reaffirming its support to open source community and has asked the competing company to explain how its software does not infringe on IBM IP rights.
The United Kingdom Parliament late last night approved a controversial digital economy bill that allows the court to impose obligations on internet service providers to limit internet access of its users deemed to have infringed online copyrights.
Lassi Jyrkkiö writes: Anything one can consider as politically cool from an EU perspective, ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the multilateral treaty to combat counterfeiting and piracy) negotiations have got it all: the internet, the USA, large potential for media exposure and a hitherto Nixonian element of secrecy balanced by a flow of thrilling documents leaked by generous deep-throats.