WIPO: China Soon To Overtake US In Patent Filings; Cybersquatting Climbs To New Record 16/03/2017 by Peter Kenny for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment It’s a question of when, not if, that China will overtake the United Sates as the largest user of international patent systems, says the World Intellectual Property Organization, which has also announced a record number of “cybersquatting” cases.
Are The EPO President’s Days Numbered? 15/03/2017 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment With rumours swirling that European Patent Office President Benoît Battistelli is seeking another term in office, disgruntled staff members called another demonstration today to try to push the office’s governing body, which is meeting on 15-16 March, to find a successor. [Further update on meeting outcome now added]
Social Media Providers Could Face Stiff Punishment For Hate Speech, Fake News In Germany 14/03/2017 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment German Justice Minister Heiko Maas today presented draft legislation to whack social media providers for what the minister described as reluctance to take down hate speech and fake news.
Under Pressure, US Confirms Michelle Lee Is Still USPTO Director 14/03/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment A letter made public only by a United States Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request confirms that Michelle Lee remains the director of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), ending a mystery that has been curiously kept secret since President Trump took office over 50 days ago.
3D Printing In Africa: Huge Benefit Or Big IP Threat? 13/03/2017 by Munyaradzi Makoni for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment CAPE TOWN, South Africa – The five-metre tall 3D printer dwarfs four engineers in the renewable energy laboratory at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, the biggest tertiary institution in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Inertia Slows Evolution For Open Scientists 10/03/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments It is still a long way to a new generation of “open scientists”, German open data researcher Christian Heise found out in his just-published PhD thesis. Heise not only investigated drivers and barriers for what he expects to be an evolution from open access to open science by theory and a survey of over 1100 scientists. He tried the concept open science the hard way, opening up the writing of his thesis paper on the net.
US High Court Backs Foreign Manufacturers Over US Patentees 10/03/2017 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Under Donald Trump, the United States has adopted new, protectionist policies. “America first,” the President has repeatedly and loudly declared. It appears, however, that the US Supreme Court didn’t get the memo. The Court, in a recent patent law case, sided with foreign companies and consumers, at the expense of US patent owners. The unanimous ruling protects international supply chains instead of domestic US manufacturing.
Amendment To The Polish Reimbursement Act For Medical Devices: Challenges For The Market 10/03/2017 by Guest contributor for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Polish Ministry of Health has commenced consultations on an amendment to the act on reimbursements for drugs, foods intended for particular nutritional uses and medical devices. This bill envisions an entirely new system of refunds (full and partial), fixed maximum prices and fixed maximum margins for medical devices based partly on HTA, similar to the system currently in place for pharmaceuticals. The current wording leads one to believe that gradually all groups of medical devices could be introduced into this system. If the amendment is passed in the current shape, it has the potential to transform the medical devices market in Poland.
UN High-Level Panel On Access To Medicines Takes Next Step At Human Rights Council 09/03/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The United Nations Human Rights Council held a panel discussion yesterday to exchange views on good practices and key challenges relevant to access to medicines. The panel gave a large part of the discussion to the recent report of the United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, much to the chagrin of the European Union and the United States.
EC Copyright Reform Proposal Encounters Resistance In European Parliament 09/03/2017 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment European Commission plans to modernise copyright rules have run into opposition in European Parliament committees, with lawmakers particularly pushing back against the proposal for a publishers’ right to licence snippets of news content.