Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON, DC – The patent offices of the United States, Europe and Japan have agreed to coordinate work-sharing, improve the quality of patent applications and work on other ways to standardise procedures…
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch The United States Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office and Japanese Patent Office on Friday will announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on patent applications, Intellectual Property Watch…
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON – Lawmakers in the United States concerned that global counterfeiting and piracy are hurting American business on Wednesday introduced two bills aimed at curbing the practices, and said they want more…
By Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch As negotiators gather at the United Nations this week in Geneva to seek ways to boost innovation on neglected diseases disproportionately affecting poor people, a new study was released showing that commentators at…
Por Martin Vaughan para Intellectual Property Watch La Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos se dispone a aprobar esta semana el acuerdo de libre comercio entre los EE.UU. y Perú, en la primera puesta a prueba de la nueva…
By Martin Vaughan for Intellectual Property Watch The United States House of Representatives is poised to pass the US-Peru free trade agreement this week, in the first test of the new “bipartisan trade policy” that led to the renegotiation of…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
A US federal court in Virginia has temporarily blocked the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from implementing controversial new rules governing patent application continuations. The rules, set to come into effect on 1 November, sparked strong opposition from many patent attorneys who argued that capping the number of patent claims and continuing applications would harm inventors seeking to protect intellectual property rights in the fast-moving high-technology sector (IPW, Patent Policy, 10 September 2007).
Separately, Portugal, which holds the EU presidency, floated a revised proposal for a European patent litigation system. The draft, although seen by critics as much improved over earlier versions, leaves several key issues unresolved, said Kevin Mooney, a UK attorney with Simmons & Simmons and president of the European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW).
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Intellectual property and computer law barrister Peter Dengate-Thrush has been elected as new Chairman of the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The former chairman of InternetNZ, the…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The upcoming second Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro will have a very broad agenda with over thirty workshops, 22 best practice forums and 10 meetings of dynamic coalitions specialising in key…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Even the “father of the Internet” could not find a solution to the ongoing fight over the so-called Whois database, which allow checks on who has registered Internet domain names. When Vinton Cerf…