USPTO 2008 Budget Would Maintain Global IP Protection Efforts 06/02/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New The proposed fiscal year 2008 budget for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) would maintain agency efforts to increase international protection and enforcement of US patents and trademarks, according to a copy of the budget proposal and a senior official. In its overall budget proposal issued on 5 February, the […]
Piracy, Innovation Top Developed-Country Industry Priority List 26/01/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New Companies from the wealthiest nations continue to view a clampdown on theft of their intellectual property rights as key to improving their economic performance, and are targeting the largest developing countries in their effort. To their aid comes the World Intellectual Property Organization and others, with a conference next week in Geneva […]
International Health IP Policy Issues To Be Watched In 2007 09/01/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The year 2006 was a busy one in terms of health policy developments related to intellectual property rights, and a quick look at the events ahead in 2007 shows that the coming year should be no less interesting.
US Congress Passes Legislation On “Semi-Generic” Wines 15/12/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New Just in time for the New Year, the United States Congress has passed a bill that will continue to allow the production of knock-off champagnes from outside of France. The European Union is currently examining a bill passed in December that would modify the US law on wines sold under “semi-generic” names […]
WTO Meeting Reopens Discussions On Geographical Indications Register 12/12/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New Informal consultations on 11 December on World Trade Organization negotiations to create a multilateral register for geographical indications produced little progress but showed a willingness by all sides to continue talking on the issue, participants said. The discussion took place in a special session of the WTO Council on the Agreement on […]
Proposal Could Create New Biotech Benefits In WHO Public Medicine System 27/11/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The biotechnology industry has proposed to change the international generic naming of medicine ingredients, which at the moment are public property, into unique names for each medicine, making it harder to substitute them with cheaper versions, and linking them to trademarks, sources say. A powerful industry coalition submitted a joint […]
2006 US Election Provides New Landscape For IP Reform 11/11/2006 by John T. Aquino for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By John T. Aquino for Intellectual Property Watch The 2006 elections in the United States have presented the world of intellectual property with a new set of guardians. In the 7 November congressional elections, Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and the Senate from the Republicans, who had been the majority party in […]
Brazil Publishes Biodiversity Generic Name List 04/08/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Brazil has published a list of more than 5,000 generic terms from the Portuguese language related to Brazilian plant biological diversity to raise awareness and prevent further misuse of trademarks that hinder Brazilian exports. The Brazilian government has been, and is, involved in a number of trademark disputes with companies that, for example, take a […]
WTO Doha Round Suspended Indefinitely, IP Issues May Be Kept On Table 24/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment After some five years of negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) free-trade talks were halted today as ministers of key countries left the negotiating table. But key intellectual property issues will be kept on the table for whenever they return, sources said. Ministers of six key members – Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India, Japan […]
G8 Outcome Has IP Implications For Enforcement, Trade and Health 19/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment This week’s Group of Eight (G8) meeting in Saint Petersburg, Russia highlighted piracy and counterfeiting as one area in which G8 is determined to step up its effort, but it also made commitments to improve access to medicines for infectious diseases and to fulfil the development objective of the current world trade talks. Separately, German […]