Are Plant Biotech Companies Misusing The Patent Law? 05/10/2006 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Niels Louwaars writes: Biotech companies, particularly those based in the United States consider that their patents on plant biotech inventions do not allow the use of the plants containing the invention as a source for further breeding, even if the invention has been eliminated in the plant variety resulting from this use. The reach of […]
Reforma del sistema de patentes de EE.UU.: ¿Se aprobará en 2007? 04/10/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Por Sarah Lai Stirland para Intellectual Property Watch La pujante intentona de las compañías de tecnología de la información en los Estados Unidos para transformar el sistema de patentes de su país avanzó poco en el Congreso estadounidense en 2006 debido a la contrarréplica de las industrias farmacéuticas y de biotecnología. Sin embargo, el hecho […]
Could An Ancient Remedy Solve The Contemporary Debate Over Europe’s Patent System? 03/10/2006 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Perhaps the biggest lobbying effort in the history of the European Union came in the 2005 fight to change the European patent system to include computer-related inventions, which ended in failure. Now, industry lobbyists are looking for new ways to address the problems of the patent system as they see it. Zuck writes: After the […]
Agreement Reached On WIPO Development Agenda, Patents; No Broadcasting Yet 30/09/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By William New Government negotiators at the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly have reached tentative agreement on the future of a proposed agenda for development, and for discussing global patent harmonisation. But key hurdles remain for a proposal to convene a negotiation on a broadcasters’ rights treaty. “I think it is positive,” said an […]
US Patent Reform: Could 2007 Be The Year? 25/09/2006 by Sarah Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By Sarah Lai Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch US information technology companies’ push to overhaul their country’s patent system made little progress in the US Congress in 2006 due to pushback from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. But the hiring of a trio of well-connected lobbyists with a history in the tort reform movement promises […]
Maurits Lugard on Creating a More Effective Patent System 08/08/2006 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The debate over the future of the European patent system was rekindled at a July hearing at the European Commission in Brussels. Maurits Lugard is a Brussels-based attorney representing small and large companies, including Microsoft, as legal counsel to the Association for Competitive Technology. He offered his view in favor of a stronger and more […]
Replace UK Patent Office And Expand Its Mandate, IP Experts Say In Consultation 21/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United Kingdom Patent Office should be replaced by an institution with the same power and responsibility that it has today but with an extra duty to also serve the public interest, a group of intellectual property experts has proposed. The proposal was made to UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in a major […]
EU Commissioner To Boost IP Focus, Seek Last Push For Community Patent 13/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment BRUSSELS – The European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Charlie McCreevy, this week said he will pay “particular attention” to intellectual property rights during the coming year, including one last drive to create a European Community patent. “I will go for one big last push for the Community patent,” he told a 12 July […]
MSF: Patent Monopoly Hinders Developing Countries’ Access To New HIV/AIDS Medicine 06/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A monopoly by a single pharmaceutical company on a new medicine for HIV/AIDS has limited access to the medicine to a select group of patients in developing countries, a non-profit group said today. The product is lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) and is only produced by the pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories, which holds the patent for the product, […]
Indonesia Strives To Acquire Bird Flu Medicines Despite No Patent 05/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment With eight recently confirmed cases of avian influenza, Indonesia is scrambling to build up its stockpile of medicines. The preferred product to fight bird flu in humans is not under patent in Indonesia, which raises questions as to why production has been off to a slow start in the country. Roche, the Swiss producer of […]