Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Valuation of intellectual property is of growing importance to small and medium-sized enterprises in getting loans from financial institutions, IP office representatives said at a side event to the World Intellectual Property Organisation General Assembly this month.
The European Patent Organisation has been in turmoil for years facing serious staff dissent and complaints aimed at EPO President Benoît Battistelli of France. The EPO's effort appears to have intensified in recent months, and on Friday the EPO Administrative Council, the agency's supervisory body, announced an action to back Battistelli and endorsed a request for the dismissal of a high-level staff member. The action sent critics to new levels of criticism.
At the recent TEDx CERN event, Intellectual Property Watch caught up with bioethicist and legal philosopher Matthew Liao, to reflect on challenging moral questions raised by new advances in computing and neuroscience allowing for the manipulation of human thoughts and memories. Liao reflected on whether we should use drugs and technology to erase traumatic memories, and if individuals have a moral obligation to themselves to remember certain events.
Speakers from the fields of academia, arts and science brought their visions of a new world and the role the next generation must play in shaping it to the audience of TEDx CERN on 9 October. The visionary speakers break the boundaries of academic research to propose innovative solutions for the future that take into account today’s limitations.
Health Action International (HAI) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF – Doctors without Borders) today issued a joint report on European Union commitments to safeguard access to medicines. Their report [pdf] comes in the context of the revision of the European Union’s trade and investment policy, released today.
The European Council has confirmed that it will support the request of least developed countries at the World Trade Organization for the extension of a waiver of intellectual property obligations for pharmaceutical products.
In 2007, a Polish company filed an application for a composite European Community trademark comprising the representation in colour of a crocodilian with its torso made up from the letters of the word "kajman" in printed characters for, among others, classes 18 (leather goods) and 25 (clothing, footwear).
A new report from Chatham House presenting suggestions for novel business models for antibiotics calls for models in which the return on investment in research and development is not dependent on the volume of sales, also known as delinkage.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership should expressly include an international treaty on cultural diversity, public broadcasters and a coalition have said.
COPENHAGEN - Google is “really looking for a balanced IP system,” the company’s head of litigation told the Global Patent Congress, while the European Patent Office elaborated on the “Tomato II” case, which for civil society has become the very symbol of an imbalanced IP system. Intellectual Property Watch spoke with senior officials at both Google and the EPO at the conference.
The ratification of an international convention to fight counterfeit of medical products by Guinea has unlocked the entry into force of the instrument, now set to happen on 1 January 2016.
On 29 September, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on how to safeguard the public interest against the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.