USPTO Cautious In Interpretation Of Supreme Court Ruling On Patents 09/05/2007 by Sarah Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Sarah Lai Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a preliminary memorandum that instructed its examiners to interpret a landmark Supreme Court ruling conservatively – even as the wider community in the field of US patent law expect the opinion to shake up longstanding rules that determine when an idea is too obvious to be granted a patent. The office also formed an experts’ group on the issue.
Possible Qualcomm-Nokia Patent War Delayed Until August 03/05/2007 by Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch US technology firm Qualcomm this week raised the spectre that if Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia does not comply with demands within four months, a long-running worldwide intellectual property dispute between the two companies could potentially escalate. But so far, Nokia has stated its position and shows no sign of moving. For now, the expected patent war between Qualcomm and Nokia has been delayed. Industry observers had expected Qualcomm to bring a slew of costly suits against Nokia in April for allegedly infringing its extensive patent portfolio. A patent war would pitch two of the largest mobile technology companies in the world against each other, which could have an impact on worldwide consumers’ access to mobile technology products.
Officials: European Patent In Five Years, London Protocol By End Of Year 23/04/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen MUNICH – If high-ranking officials speaking at a recent European Patent Office (EPO) meeting are right, the European fight over languages in patent applications may be over by the end of this year following France’s election, and Europe could have a Community patent within the next five years. A Community […]
Top IP Official Cites Swiss Patent Litigation System, Global Over-Patenting 23/04/2007 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Catherine Saez The addition of new actors including developing countries and a trend of over-patenting in some developed countries is leading to an overload of the global patent system, according to Roland Grossenbacher, director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Intellectual Property. In addition, a patent litigation system is needed in the Europe Union […]
European Patent Office Issues Report On Future, Celebrates Present 19/04/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen MUNICH – The European Patent Office (EPO) has published a report on what the intellectual property rights system may look like in the future, while it celebrates the present and its 30th anniversary this year. The celebration was kicked off by a colourful dance and music show on the opening […]
WIPO Broadcasting Treaty, EU-Wide Patent Generate Debate 16/04/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen NEW YORK – Two “old” intellectual property policy issues are continuing to generate new debate among legal and policy experts, namely the broadcasting treaty under negotiation at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the recent move by the European Commission to re-launch the debate on a single European patent […]
Conference Identifies Patent Challenges For Next Decade 13/04/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen NEW YORK – When this week’s Fordham University conference on intellectual property was discussing future trends in the areas of patents, trademarks and copyright, patents seemed to be the winner in terms of number of issues to be worked out over the next decade. The buzzword seems to be all […]
European Commission Issues Communication To Unlock EU-Wide Patent Debate 04/04/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen BRUSSELS – While waiting for the time to ripen to introduce a single European Community patent, the European Commission has outlined a compromise that would start with a harmonised court system for patent lawsuits, an EU official said at a 3 April briefing in Brussels. With this dossier stuck for […]
Panel On US Patent Law Ethics Finds Compromises and Hope 31/03/2007 by John T. Aquino for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By John T. Aquino for Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON, DC – Panellists at the all-day 29 March symposium “Ethical Issues in Patent Law” expressed frustration at the inability to improve patent system processes that self-protectively resist change. But the symposium was also filled with lessons on dealing with ethical issues and a determination to keep […]
WIPO Addresses Rapid Rise In Patent Information Use 19/03/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The use of an online, searchable patent-information system run by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has tripled in the past 12 months, according to WIPO. But a recent colloquium on the topic showed that patent information is still an untapped resource that could be better utilised, and WIPO is […]