Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee approval this week of a single patent for participating European Union members sets the stage for a February plenary vote in Parliament. But members’ inability to agree on where to locate the new unified patent litigation court means the Polish presidency won’t get to see finalisation of the process that will now head into 2012 under the guidance of Denmark.
With a recent decision by the Agriculture and Fishery Council of the European Union, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) seems to have made a big leap forward. And with recent breakthroughs in other countries, ACTA’s final hurdle may be in the European parliaments.
European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda Neelie Kroes today presented details on the No-Disconnect strategy of the EU which aims to support human rights activists and freedom fighters in authoritarian regimes.
Two European-based organisations working in agriculture and development will launch a joint publication next week that will provide a guide for developing countries to consider geographical indications. The guide comes as the World Trade Organization and World Intellectual Property Organization hold meetings next week.
The Council of Europe today alerted its 47 member states “to the gravity of violations of Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights which might result from politically motivated pressure exerted on privately operated Internet platforms and online service providers, and of other attacks against websites of independent media, human rights defenders, dissidents, whistleblowers and new media actors.”
Self-regulation and its potential pitfalls when it comes to circumvention of due process by pushing enforcement to intermediaries was the subject of a seminar held in Brussels today (7 December).
A four-day conference in Brussels next week involving numerous high-level decision-makers in intellectual property policy and practice will bring out the latest thinking on IP rights as a boost to innovation in Europe and around the world. There will be a special focus on open innovation, IP in industry, IP strategies, and IP in the largest emerging economies.
European efforts to resolve three vexing intellectual property issues - copyright licensing, private copying levies and a unified system for granting and litigating patents - are gaining pace in the public and private sectors and could bear fruit next year.
In what is seen by many as a landmark decision, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg on Thursday ruled that an injunction obliging an internet service provider to install a filtering system to prevent peer-to-peer copyright violations on its network would violate European law.
Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, has issued a call for new thinking beyond old business models as a way to incentivize creativity in Europe.
The European Court of Auditors yesterday issued a performance audit on European Commission management of the European geographical indications (GI) scheme, which covers products with an estimated value of €15 billion annually. The auditors found room for improvement in clarifying the rules and a need for greater awareness of GIs.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is working to ensure small businesses and independent inventors have the tools they need to obtain, protect and enforce their patents overseas, as well as domestically, in the wake of patent reform legislation enacted in the United States. Meanwhile, the office is also stepping up global patent harmonisation efforts.