Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The United Kingdom Parliament late last night approved a controversial digital economy bill that allows the court to impose obligations on internet service providers to limit internet access of its users deemed to have infringed online copyrights.
Lassi Jyrkkiö writes: Anything one can consider as politically cool from an EU perspective, ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the multilateral treaty to combat counterfeiting and piracy) negotiations have got it all: the internet, the USA, large potential for media exposure and a hitherto Nixonian element of secrecy balanced by a flow of thrilling documents leaked by generous deep-throats.
The truth about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is different depending on which side you are on.
In the aftermath of the recent protracted fights over healthcare, the United States has seen a wave of intellectual property-related policy activity
The European Court of Justice’s recent ruling in Google v. Louis Vuitton Malletier SA has been hailed a major legal victory for Google and other search providers. That, however, is only part of the story.
A new accord designed to bolster political and economic ties between the European Union and Central America could result in greater seizures of medicines whenever pharmaceutical companies allege that their patents have been infringed, public health advocates have warned.
On 21 January, 2010, the China National Institute of Standardization (CNIS) issued and requested comments from all stakeholders on its Disposal Rules for Inclusion of Patents in National Standards (Disposal Rules).
Advocates of stronger protection of geographical indications are working to develop greater awareness in Geneva policy circles, trying to win over countries reluctant to adopt a specific GI protection system.
The expansion of internet domain names as proposed is worrying to trademark owners as a significant number cybersquatting cases continue to be filed in the World Intellectual Property Organization dispute resolution system, WIPO said this week. Meanwhile internet intermediaries should play a bigger role in the fight against trademark infringement, WIPO officials said.
Europe will request the publication of the current drafts for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) at the next ACTA negotiating meeting in New Zealand in April, EU trade official Luc Devigne said today.
Speaking at the third EU stakeholder meeting on the hotly debated ACTA today in Brussels, Devigne also said there is also a meeting with civil society planned to take place alongside the New Zealand round.
China on Friday briefed the World Trade Organization on improvements in its intellectual property rights enforcement needed to bring it into compliance with a dispute settlement decision made last year.
The recent Forest Group case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has made it more financially viable for plaintiffs to sue for under the false marking patent statute (35 U.S.C. § 292). However, legislation currently before Congress, as well as another patent marking case to be decided by the CAFC in the near future, Pequignot v. Solo Cup, may level the playing field more towards defendants in such lawsuits.