Thailand: Latest Talks With Patent Owners of Cancer Drugs Show Positive Results 05/11/2007 by Sinfah Tunsarawuth for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Sinfah Tunsarawuth for Intellectual Property Watch BANGKOK – Thai government officials said the latest round of negotiations with patent owners of cancer treatment drugs showed positive results with drug companies agreeing to make their supplies more available to certain cancer patients. But they stopped short of saying that the government would now have no […]
WIPO Committees Casting About For Future Work 05/11/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New The World Intellectual Property Organization enforcement committee last week heard from a series of intellectual property rights enforcers and others before attempting unsuccessfully to agree on the future work and moving to consultations till February. Meanwhile, separate consultations are continuing for a mandate for the WIPO copyright committee whose meeting has been […]
New USPTO Rules Blocked; EU Views New Patent Litigation Proposal 05/11/2007 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch A US federal court in Virginia has temporarily blocked the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) from implementing controversial new rules governing patent application continuations. The rules, set to come into effect on 1 November, sparked strong opposition from many patent attorneys who argued that capping the number of patent claims and continuing applications would harm inventors seeking to protect intellectual property rights in the fast-moving high-technology sector (IPW, Patent Policy, 10 September 2007). Separately, Portugal, which holds the EU presidency, floated a revised proposal for a European patent litigation system. The draft, although seen by critics as much improved over earlier versions, leaves several key issues unresolved, said Kevin Mooney, a UK attorney with Simmons & Simmons and president of the European Patent Lawyers Association (EPLAW).
Change Of Leadership At ICANN As Cerf Makes Way For IP Expert 04/11/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Intellectual property and computer law barrister Peter Dengate-Thrush has been elected as new Chairman of the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The former chairman of InternetNZ, the country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry for New Zealand (.nz), and cofounder of the Association of […]
Thailand: 20 More Drugs In Pipeline For Possible Compulsory Licences 02/11/2007 by Sinfah Tunsarawuth for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Sinfah Tunsarawuth for Intellectual Property Watch BANGKOK – Thailand has in its pipeline about 20 more items of various patented drugs that could be candidates for compulsory licences, allowing the government to exercise its right over the patent owners to cut prices and make the medicines more available to the public, a senior Thai […]
Internet Governance Forum To Return To Critical Internet Resources Issue 30/10/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The upcoming second Internet Governance Forum in Rio de Janeiro will have a very broad agenda with over thirty workshops, 22 best practice forums and 10 meetings of dynamic coalitions specialising in key issues such as access, diversity, openness and security. One outstanding issue at the 12-15 November […]
IP Community Critical Of Proposals On ICANN Agenda 30/10/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Even the “father of the Internet” could not find a solution to the ongoing fight over the so-called Whois database, which allow checks on who has registered Internet domain names. When Vinton Cerf steps down from its position as Chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and […]
WTO Biodiversity Amendment Backed; EU Seeks ‘New Thinking’ On GIs 26/10/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New A proposal to amend the World Trade Organization rules on intellectual property rights to require the disclosure of the origin of genetic resources in patent applications gained significant new support Wednesday when 50 least-developed countries signed on. The additional support for the proposed amendment came at the 23-24 October meeting of the […]
New Models Emerge For European Copyright Licensing System 25/10/2007 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch The European system for licensing copyrighted music is in “huge confusion” following the rejection by content users and smaller collecting societies of a proposed model contract for collective management of music on cable, satellite and the Internet, Thierry Desurmont, vice president of the board of France’s Societe des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de Musique, said this week. Desurmont spoke along with others at a 22 October Chatham House/International Institute of Communications conference on trends in global communications in London.
Parliament Paves Way for EU Adoption Of WTO Health Amendment 24/10/2007 by David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch BRUSSELS – The European Union has pledged not to include any intellectual property provisions that would curb access to medicines in a series of free trade agreements it is negotiating with least-developed countries. The commitment has been given as part of a deal struck between the EU’s three […]