Brexit Threatens Legal Uncertainty, Higher Costs For Trademarks, Lawyers Say 08/07/2016 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Two weeks after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the potential impact of “Brexit” on patents and trademarks is becoming marginally clearer, intellectual property lawyers said in interviews and a 7 July webinar. Among other things, Brexit would delay the EU unitary patent and unified patent court (UPC) and result in great uncertainty –and higher costs — for trademark owners, they said.
V4 Countries Launch Visegrad Patent Institute As Region’s First ISA, IPEA 08/07/2016 by Jaroslaw Adamowski for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment With the aim of strengthening regional cooperation in intellectual property, the four member states of the Visegrad Group, which comprises Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, launched the Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI) on 1 July. Applicants will be allowed to communicate with the institutions in their respective mother tongues, and fees for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications will be reduced by as much as 40 percent, according to Poland’s Patent Office (UPRP).
French Bill Could Open Door For Sharing, Selling Of Seeds In Public Domain 07/07/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Next week, the French Senate is due to consider a bill on biodiversity for the third time. That bill, which could be modifying several legislations, might allow for the sharing and selling by non-governmental organisations of seeds in the public domain to non-commercial buyers, which is so far not permitted under the current French legislation, according to sources.
Generic Manufacturing Deals For HIV And Hepatitis C Treatments Signed At Medicines Patent Pool 07/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Today the Medicines Patent Pool announced the signing of nine new sub-licensing agreements for the generic manufacturing of key HIV and hepatitis C treatments.
UK High Court Upholds Blocking Of Infringing Websites In Trademark Cases 06/07/2016 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Internet service providers can be ordered to block websites that offer counterfeit goods for sale despite the lack of an express law to that effect in trademark cases, the UK Court of Appeal for England and Wales said in a 6 July decision.
PIP Framework Review Ongoing; Last Call For Country Submissions 06/07/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment World Health Organization member states have until 15 July to submit views on a five-year-old mechanism allowing for swifter sharing of pandemic influenza viruses and benefit-sharing measures, according to the group tasked with providing a report on the review.
UK Proposes To Tighten IP Protections Online 06/07/2016 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United Kingdom Digital Economy Bill, floated this week, aims to “enable access to fast digital communication services for citizens and businesses, to enable investment in digital communications infrastructure, to shape the emerging digital world to the benefit of children, consumers and businesses, and to support the digital transformation of government, enabling the delivery of better public services, world leading research and better statistics,” the UK government said in the document.
US Industry Airs Hopes, Frustrations On IP Rights In India 05/07/2016 by Patralekha Chatterjee for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment What do global innovators make of India’s new National Intellectual Property Rights Policy? A recent discussion on “India’s National IPR Strategy: A View from Global Innovators” in Washington DC attempted to assess the opportunities and challenges ahead from the perspective of American companies.
The Dutch & Pharma Policy: A Groundbreaking Presidency 05/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The Netherlands’ Presidency of the European Council proved to be far from quiet in relation to pharmaceutical affairs. June 17 was the concluding Health Ministers Council (EPSCO) that signed off the most strongly-worded conclusions Brussels observers can recall. The meeting signaled the end of an overall successful and impactful Presidency in the highly sensitive field of medicines. The past semester has been eventful to say the least.
Trade Experts: Financing Not IP Slows Adoption Of Clean Energy Tech 04/07/2016 by Priti Patnaik for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Constraints on financing, restrictions on services and not so much access to technology emerged as one of the biggest challenges in the innovation, deployment and diffusion of clean energy technologies during an unusual session last week in Geneva which brought together climate scientists and trade policy wonks. Technologists and chemical engineers also came together to discuss how unlocking trade could help clean technologies in the context of the implementation of the Paris agreement on climate change.