Category Regional Policy

Bush Administration Presses On For Patent Reform Bill This Year

By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch Despite an apparent stalemate on patent reform in the United States Congress, the Bush administration is still pushing for a bill to be completed this congressional session. Speaking in California’s Silicon Valley…

High US Court Reconsiders Policy Of Patenting Business Methods

By Drew Clark for Intellectual Property Watch
WASHINGTON, DC - The chief US appeals court that rules on patent disputes has squarely reconsidered whether the United States' 1998 decision to allow greater berth for business method patents was the right intellectual property policy.

Adding heft to the position of changing course on business method patents was the US Patent and Trademark Office, which challenged a patent application on a method for financial hedging by inventors Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw.

The USPTO urged the court to reject the patent as ineligible subject matter. It offered a standard for invalidating the patent that demonstrated a dramatic change of course for the US government over the past 10 years.

EU Internal Market Chief: Counterfeiting and Piracy Need Industry-Led Solutions

By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch The European Commission wants practical, pragmatic suggestions for fighting the “modern-day highway robbery” known as piracy and counterfeiting, Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said at a 13 May commission-sponsored high level conference on…

European Parliament Set To Reprimand Mandelson For Pressuring Thailand

By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch BRUSSELS – The European Parliament looks set to take Brussels’ top trade official to task over his latest attempt to persuade Thailand that it should revise its policy on pharmaceutical patents. Shortly after…