Category Regional Policy

Panelists: Balance Needed Between Antitrust Law, Patent Quality

By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch
WASHINGTON, DC - A careful balance must be struck between ensuring the quality of the United States patent system - and the patents themselves - and antitrust law to ensure that new technologies and services can be brought to market, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, experts said in Washington Monday.

"Imbalance can result in less competition, less innovation," Deborah Garza, deputy assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice's antitrust division, said during a meeting of the Intellectual Property Owners Association.

USPTO Patent Reexamination Process Is Flawed, Think Tank Says

By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
A United States Patent and Trademark Office procedure for third-party patent challenges is in turmoil and needs rethinking, an investigation by an independent think tank has found. Though few in number so far, inter partes reexaminations are increasingly used in conjunction with, rather than as an intended replacement for, patent infringement litigation. On top of that, the USPTO is taking years to resolve the cases, leaving business plans in disarray.

The USPTO said it is working to cut delays in the system.

Latest Available Text Of The CBD Decision On Access And Benefit-Sharing

Note: the final decisions of convention on biological diversity governing body are available here.

A decision on a way forward on a global access and benefit-sharing regime was reached at a meeting of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity from 19 to 30 May in Bonn.

The main body of the document describes steps needed to reach international consensus on the content of such a regime. Annex I of the document sets out a draft text for the international regime, and annex II contains terms of reference for expert technical and legal groups whose creation is mandated by the main text.