Original news and analysis on international IP policy
BERLIN -- Germany's controversial hate speech legislation is working well, a representative of the German Ministry of Justice said during a panel today (27 November) at the German national Internet Governance Forum in Berlin.
The European Commission has proposed an exception to the extended period of patent protection that the European Union provides to original drug manufacturers for certain products, in order to boost the competitiveness of EU generic and biosimilar industries in global markets. The exception will allow EU generic and biosimilar companies to manufacture protected drugs for export during this patent extension period. Stakeholders are so far unhappy with the exception. Meanwhile, studies analyse its potential economic impacts and legal implications, and the Commission remains confident that safeguards it is putting in place will keep the lower-priced medicines from making their way back into the EU.
A food’s taste cannot be pinned down with enough precision and objectivity to make it copyrightable under EU law, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said on 13 November. The decision creates a new standard that could be applied to all European copyright works, but would likely be the same under US law, intellectual property lawyers said.
A new directive adopted today by European Union member governments updates and strengthens regulations on video-sharing platforms and other newer forms of media, emphasising the public interest, elevating protections for children, and establishing a 30 percent quota of European content in on-demand audiovisual media services.
French advocacy group La Quadrature du Net has declared recent French government plans to regulate internet hate speech insufficient, and is calling for more in-depth reforms. These could include the promotion of alternative social media platforms and a decentralised approach to regulation, according to an organisation press release.
Catherine Chammartin is the Director of the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI). A former specialist in international tax policy, she took office at IPI in November 2015. In an exclusive interview with Intellectual Property Watch's Catherine Saez, she explained the priorities of the office under her leadership, and the office's contribution to the success of Switzerland's innovation record.
Generics industry group Medicines for Europe has declared United States interference in the European Union legislative process on the supplementary protection certificate (SPC) manufacturing waiver “unacceptable,” and an attempt to “influence the outcome of this EU legislative proposal.”
The European Patent Office today announced the appointment of three new vice-presidents, related to patent granting, legal and international affairs, and corporate services. The appointees come from Germany, the United Kingdom, and Austria.
Concerned by the ever-increasing influx of counterfeit and pirated goods into Europe, European Union member states on 9 October backed a new customs action plan for 2018-2022. The first step will be a roadmap for implementation from the European Commission (EC) by next spring.
The Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD), a forum of United States and European Union consumer organisations, yesterday released a resolution calling on policymakers “to break out of the current dysfunctional and harmful trade-off between innovation and access,” and to delink research and development (R&D) from monopoly pricing.