US Patent Commissioner Stoll To Retire; Deputy Focarino To Step Up 02/11/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Robert Stoll, the Commissioner for Patents at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), has announced his retirement on 31 December 2011. Deputy Commissioner for Patents Margaret “Peggy” Focarino will be nominated to replace him, USPTO said today.
USPTO, Small Businesses Talk Patent Reform, Harmonisation, Fee Diversion 02/11/2011 by Liza Porteus Viana, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is working to ensure small businesses and independent inventors have the tools they need to obtain, protect and enforce their patents overseas, as well as domestically, in the wake of patent reform legislation enacted in the United States. Meanwhile, the office is also stepping up global patent harmonisation efforts.
WHO’s Chan Pitches UN Agency’s “Staying Power,” Unique Role 01/11/2011 by William New and Rachel Marusak Hermann, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan today made a strident pitch to WHO member governments to invest in the well-known United Nations agency, citing several unique and essential aspects of the organisation. The WHO Executive Board is meeting this week to address major reform of the WHO, in part due to a severe funding shortage but reaching into its place in the global public health spectrum.
WHO Group Agrees On New Mechanism To Fight Poor-Quality Medicines 01/11/2011 by Rachel Marusak Hermann, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The World Health Organization-led working group of member states addressing “substandard/spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit” (SSFFC) medical products has reached consensus on a new mechanism to prevent and control SSFFC medical products and associated activities. The creation of the new mechanism comes as the future of WHO involvement in an interagency anti-counterfeiting taskforce is in question.
US Copyright Office Issues Analysis Of Mass Digitisation Of Books 01/11/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United States Copyright Office has released a preliminary analysis and discussion document on the intersection of copyright law and the mass digitization of books.
Tech Industry Sees Harm To Internet In US “Rogue Website” Bill 01/11/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch 6 Comments Trade associations representing US technology industry interests this week attacked a new House of Representatives bill aimed at fighting so-called “rogue” websites, calling it “an alarming step backwards in internet policy” that would create “a thicket of internet regulations containing 16 new legal definitions for evolving internet technology.”
Multiple Defendants In Patent Infringement Filing Under New US Law 28/10/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A company has filed a patent infringement complaint in the Eastern District of Texas that names 30 defendants, including some of the largest US technology companies, a case that reflects a change in US law as passed last month.
WIPO Re:Search Bridges Public, Private Sectors For Neglected Disease Research 27/10/2011 by Rachel Marusak Hermann, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments “Neglected tropical diseases are century-old diseases and today we see new hope,” Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, told a crowd at yesterday’s launch of a new public-private collaboration to develop medicines for the poorest countries. The project, called Re:Search, was launched at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Revised EPO Patent For Conventional Broccoli Has Public Interest Ramifications 27/10/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A patent for a conventionally bred form of the common household vegetable broccoli appears to be on its way to acceptance by the European Patent Office following a change to the patent by the company filing it, according to sources. The decision not to revoke the patent, which has been the subject of protests and now calls for action in national courts, could clear the way for hundreds of other vegetable patents to follow, a source said.
US Copyright Office Releases Priorities For Next Two Years 25/10/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The US Copyright Office today issued its priorities and projects for the next two years, targeting studies, legislation, trade and foreign relations, and administrative law.