New Year Brings Prospect Of New WIPO Leader, Budget Agreement 21/12/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New [Note: Informal DG candidates listed below] The campaign season has begun to fill the top seat at the World Intellectual Property Organization, which is being vacated in 2008, one year early. At the same time, WIPO members have been debating over how and when to try again to end a stalemate over […]
December/January Edition of IP-Watch Monthly Reporter Now Available 21/12/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Reporter features the most important news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the IP community at the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Geneva missions, regional and national IP offices, industry and non-governmental organisations, plus News Briefs on reports and events that do not […]
USPTO Deputy Director’s Qualifications Backed; Lawsuit Could Return 20/12/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch It was a victory for the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), but it may be short-lived. On 7 December, a US federal court threw out a lawsuit that challenged Margaret Peterlin’s appointment as deputy director of the USPTO. Four inventors and patent attorneys had alleged that Peterlin […]
International Implications Of Red Cross Trademark Fight Unclear 20/12/2007 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Catherine Saez Months after health products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson filed a civil complaint against the American Red Cross and its commercial licensees to stop using the symbol of a red cross, the public interest it generated seems to have all but subsided. However, questions about the possible consequences of this lawsuit at the international level remain unanswered. After roughly 100 years of sharing the symbol, the two entities are now fighting over it. The lawsuit filed by US-based Johnson & Johnson (J&J) against the American Red Cross (ARC) and four of its licensing partners on 8 August focused mainly on preventing the ARC and its licensing partners from using the red cross design on commercial products such as first aid kits to prevent unfair competition. The American Red Cross has licensed sale of its kits in large-scale retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and major drug stores.
Thailand Moves To Amend Copyright Law To Regulate Royalties 19/12/2007 by Sinfah Tunsarawuth for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By Sinfah Tunsarawuth for Intellectual Property Watch BANGKOK – Thailand’s lawmakers on Tuesday finalised a draft bill to amend its copyrights law in an effort to regulate the collecting of royalties in domestic music industry, which bill proponents say has been subject to extortion by gangsters and corrupt law enforcers. The bill, finalised on 18 […]
WIPO Consults On Protecting Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources 19/12/2007 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments By Catherine Saez How best to protect traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources against misappropriation and misuse was the main theme of a recent community consultation in the form of a roundtable organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The WIPO event on 10-12 December came in response to “the strong level […]
WTO Members Continue Debate On Geographical Indications Register 17/12/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New Members of the World Trade Organization on Friday continued a longstanding debate over the creation of a register for geographical indications (GIs), products whose names derive from places. Debate centred on a recent compromise proposal from European countries driving the effort to establish the register, who received new support from countries seeking […]
China, US Hold High-Level Discussions On IP Issues 17/12/2007 by Liza Porteus Viana, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch China and the United States last week held high-level discussions on a host of topics including intellectual property rights, reaching agreements to cooperate on IP rights protection, stopping counterfeit medicines and devices, reducing copying of patented biotechnology, and sharing innovation. The 18th US-China Joint Commission on China […]
New Push Emerges For An Indian Patent Database 17/12/2007 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Two years after India’s implementation of international trade rules on intellectual property rights, a lawyers group is rekindling a decade-old push to organise India’s patent applications into an electronic database. IP law blog (“blawg”) Spicy IP has sent a petition to the India Patent Office (IPO). Citing India’s […]
WHO To Continue High-Priority Revision Of Pandemic Flu System 14/12/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By William New Members of the World Health Organization worked for days recently under the steady gaze of the WHO director general in an attempt to develop a new framework for the global influenza-sharing system designed as a safeguard against a pandemic.