Overseas Manufacturing Creates Copyright Dilemma For US Supreme Court 21/11/2012 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons presents the United States Supreme Court with a stark and weighty choice. In the 29 October oral argument [pdf], Supap Kirtsaeng urged the court to uphold purchasers’ right to freely dispose of copyrighted works they have purchased, even when those works are made overseas. If this right is struck down, Kirtsaeng warned, museums in the US may be unable to borrow works of art created overseas, consumers may be unable to sell their used books and CDs, and many companies engaged in secondary markets, such as eBay and used car dealers, may be put out of business.
EU Patent, Patent Court Could Finally Be Approved In Coming Weeks 20/11/2012 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments A new proposal by European Union governments could signal the end of a years-long struggle for a unified European patent and patent court. The compromise, which has the support of the European Commission (EC), appears likely to make it through the European Parliament despite pockets of resistance.
Analysis: Argentine Court Clarifies What Patent Holders Can – And Cannot – Prohibit 14/11/2012 by Maximiliano Marzetti for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In the recent decision on the case “Novartis AG versus Laboratorios LKM SA re cease of use of patent” the Third Chamber of the Federal Civil and Commercial Appellate Court of Argentina set an important precedent in relation to the interpretation of the ius prohibendi of patent holders. In other words, the demarcation of what they can and cannot prohibit.
Landmark India IP Board Decision Against Hepatitis C Drug Patent 04/11/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments India last week saw a landmark public health decision on the evolving role of intellectual property rights in the context of the public interest.
US Court Rules On Fair Use For Blind Users, Digitisation, Amid Treaty Talks 19/10/2012 by Maricel Estavillo for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Coinciding with the marathon negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organization for a potential treaty for the visually-impaired persons, a United States court handed down a ruling this month that goes in favour of copyright exceptions in the digitisation of books for the purposes of preservation, text search and access for the blind.
New USPTO Post-Grant Review A Small Step For Patent Harmonisation 18/10/2012 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment On 16 September, the United States made its patent system more like everyone else’s. The country began implementing a new patent office procedure for challenging the validity of recently issued patents. This was, however, only a modest step towards harmonisation because the US version of post-grant patent review has little in common with the corresponding processes available in other countries, according to experts.
WIPO Holds Annual Arbitration Workshop Off-Site For First Time 17/10/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The annual arbitration workshop of the World Intellectual Property Organization is taking place this year in Singapore, the first time the gathering has been held outside the United Nations agency headquarters in Geneva.
Russian Social Network vKontakte Held Liable For Copyright Infringement A Second Time 12/10/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment This week, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and Leningradskaya Oblast announced a decision holding vKontakte, the Russian largest social network, liable for copyright infringement. This is the second case between the parties in which the court sided with the right holder following a decision earlier this year.
Talks Ongoing To Raise Quality Of International Patents 10/10/2012 by Maricel Estavillo for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Big patent offices worldwide are leading talks to raise the quality of international patents under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). This comes as it has become harder, yet more urgent than ever, for stakeholders to inject some reforms into the more than four-decade old system amid the unprecedented rise in applications and faster technology turnaround.
Google, Publishers Reach Digital Library Settlement 05/10/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Google Inc. have reached a settlement in a seven-year copyright dispute involving the Google Library Project, allowing the inclusion of copyrighted digital works.