Candidates For EPO President On Campaign Trail At WIPO Conference 21/09/2009 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A recent two-day conference of the World Intellectual Property Organization on IP infrastructure also served as a campaign platform of sorts for several candidates vying to be the next head of the European Patent Office in Munich starting in mid-2010.
“IP Authorities” Pay Homage To PCT, Call For Action On Harmonisation, Backlog 21/09/2009 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Improved searches and application quality and a focus on backlog reduction are necessary to improve the patent system, patent authorities concluded at a World Intellectual Property Organization symposium last week. This will require patent offices around the world to work together, and the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty, most speakers said, is the path forward for global patent coordination.
EU Sets Out H1N1 Flu Strategy; Partners With Pharma On Medicines Development 20/09/2009 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Several strategy papers laying out a plan to aid European Union member states in responding to the pandemic outbreak of H1N1 influenza were published last week by the European Commission, as Europe enters its fall flu season. Meanwhile, a partnership between the Commission and the European pharmaceutical industry announced a second call for proposals, aimed at increasing research and development of medicines for cancer as well as infectious disease.
WIPO: Patents, Trademarks Tied To Economic Cycles But Crisis Impact Uneven 20/09/2009 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry was accompanied publicly for the first time by the United Nations agency’s first economist as they presented data Friday showing the positive correlation between patent applications and economic cycles.
Opposition To Aspects Of Google Book Project Settlement Mounts 18/09/2009 by Bruce Gain for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Google’s court settlement in the United States that could allow the search engine giant to sell scanned books online is increasingly coming under fire prior to the final hearing in the matter next month. Government entities and groups in the United States and in Europe that oppose the settlement could, at the very least, temporarily derail Google Book Search, according to sources.
Human Rights, Multi-Stakeholder Approach Are European Priority For Internet Governance 18/09/2009 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Stakeholders gathered this week to discuss a European approach to the governance of the internet in the lead-up to the next global forum on the issue. The second European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) took place in Geneva on 14-15 September and brought together some 200 representatives.
France: Domain-Name Registrars Exempt From Trademark Liability 17/09/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A French court recently decided to exclude domain name registrars from liability for trademark infringing domain names registered by their customers in a case involving 13 large French companies against Luxembourg domain name registrar EuroDNS. The Third Chamber of the “Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris” by the judgment on 26 August (in French) confirmed […]
Last Cheaper AIDS Medicines For Rwanda Under WTO 17/09/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The 18th of September will mark the last shipment of lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicines from Canada to Rwanda under a World Trade Organization-sanctioned arrangement. The first shipment of the antiretroviral combination drug manufactured by Canadian pharmaceutical company Apotex was sent in September 2008, the second one had to take place in September 2009. The shipments were […]
EPO Announces Four Candidates For Next President 17/09/2009 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The European Patent Office today announced four people in the running to replace its current president, Alison Brimelow, who is not seeking another term after hers expires on 30 June 2010.
Brimelow Stresses Need For Better Patent System; Discusses Harmonisation 17/09/2009 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The way the patent system is currently structured rewards slowness and low quality, but the needed changes will have to include a new revenue model, a top European patent official said today.