Category Europe

EPO: New Employment Rules Roil Staff; Management Responds On Demand For More Productivity

Outgoing European Patent Office President Benoȋt Battistelli has proposed a new “employment framework” that includes fixed-term contracts for patent examiners, reigniting anger among staff members already in a tense relationship with management. There is also concern that Battistelli’s apparent push – which the EPO denies - for more products (defined as prior art searches and proposals for patent grants) is hurting patent quality.

Medicines Excitement In The Netherlands – New Health Minister Announces Firm Action On “Absurd” Medicines Pricing And Gets The European Medicines Agency

The new Minister of Health of the Netherlands, Bruno Bruins, came in guns blazing when he put the pharmaceutical industry on notice and announced on 22 November to “change the rules of the game” to tackle, what he called “absurd” medicines pricing, writes Ellen 't Hoen.

Breeders Group CIOPORA Calls For New Plant Varieties To Be Patentable

A new “position paper” by a plant breeders industry group revives the argument that plant-related inventions should be patentable. New plant breeding techniques modifying the plant genome are not essentially biological processes, thus should be patentable, the paper says. The group also calls for a worldwide harmonised research exemption on plant variety rights and patents for the purpose of improving the invention.

Get Prepared For A Passel Of EU Legislation On Copyright And Related Rights

This week several committees in the European Parliament voted on a pile of copyright-related dossiers, and in some instances the steps taken were really small. But the issues include controversial aspects in the legislative drafts on copyright review, broadcasting content and digital content, such as an obligation for providers to monitor third party content, intermediary liability and website blocking.

Brexit Drives European Medicines Agency To The Netherlands, Move By March 2019

As a consequence of the decision of the United Kingdom to go its separate way, the remaining European Union member states decided yesterday that the European Medicines Agency should move to Amsterdam by the end of March 2019.

Freedom Of Expression – Paper Looks At ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ In Latin American Context

It’s hard to escape the watchful eye of the internet – it will follow you through life. But if something put on the internet about you is wrong, misrepresents you or even endangers you, should you have a right to…

Geneva Buzzing With Ideas And Events For International Entrepreneurship Week

A weeklong event next week has been co-organised and sponsored by a number of Geneva actors, such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and the University of Geneva, as well as lesser known groups and projects, to celebrate the international week of entrepreneurship.

Hepatitis C Buyers’ Clubs Grow Worldwide As A Way To Obtain Affordable Treatment

Hidden amongst the thousands of Facebook pages given over to holiday snaps and gossip are groups of patients who have hepatitis C, a disease that affects more than 70 million worldwide and kills around 400,000 people a year. But importantly, these groups of patients from Russia to Australia have got together to help each other import a relatively new class of drug that is able to cure most of the patients who take it.

New Worldwide Compilation Of GIs Launched: Helping To Bridge Two Approaches?

The Organization for an International Geographical Indications Network (oriGIn) launched a worldwide compilation of geographical indications today at the World Intellectual Property Organization. The compilation, which lists over 7,000 geographical indications, beyond providing a technical tool, is also presented as a tool of reconciliation.

Reaping The Benefits Of Artificial Intelligence

Your brand is everything in the global marketplace. It is no exaggeration to say that a business now lives and dies by both its offline, online and social reputation. Because of this, searching a trademark is more vital than ever before. It is important for trademark professionals to work faster and more effectively in searching, clearing and registering strong marks to ensure clients have a competitive advantage. To do so requires the merging of the old and new: the specific knowledge that only highly experienced trademark experts can provide, with the advantages of the latest wave of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, writes Ronda Majure.