Showing posts with label Nathaniel DeLucia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nathaniel DeLucia. Show all posts
By Nathaniel DeLucia

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) held a seminar, where it invited member states to discuss their views on traditional knowledge and genetic resources.  Traditional knowledge, sometimes referred to as folklore, refers to the collective body of stories and knowledge held by indigenous/tribal groups which is rarely protected under modern patent or copyright regimes.  Genetic resources refer to genetic material that has actual or potential value, such as plant or animal material which has value as a medicine.  Similar to traditional knowledge, current patent regimes fail to provide protection to the locals who grow, and sometimes arguably own, the genetic resources.

The seminar was held in a series of round table discussions, which discussed the various member states differing views toward the public domain (information to which every member of the public should have free access) and how their differing views affected the scope of protection they felt was appropriate for traditional knowledge and genetic resources.

To see an in depth look at the discussions, check out the coverage at IP-Watch.
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May 11, 2015
By Nathaniel DeLucia

Though it may not sound too exciting, an important debate just occurred just occurred at the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).  Leaders in the plant, seed, and fruit industries met to discuss the possibility of creating an “international system of cooperation” for filing plant patents.  This system would appear to operate like the PCT system for patents by providing a centralized filing system, and would be overseen by a team of international examiners.

Plant patents are slightly different than regular patents (utility patents).  They have their own set of rules and examination criteria and are typically governed by their own laws/statutes.

Should these debates lead to the creation of a centralized filing system, they would further the ongoing international trend of harmonizing the world’s intellectual property laws.
See the full story at IP-Watch, located here.
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May 08, 2015
By Nathaniel DeLucia

Thousands of Europeans marched in opposition to three proposed trade agreements which are currently being negotiated: the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Canada-EU Trade Agreement (CETA), and the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA).  20,000 people protested in Munich alone, making it the largest protest in Germany.

The three proposed agreements are all multinational free trade agreements between various key international actors, such as the United States, the European Union, Canada, and Australia.The protestors are primarily concerned with the influence of lobbyists and corporations on the negotiations, and fear that they may be skewing the agreements to better protect the corporations rather than the everyday consumer.  As the next round of negotiations is scheduled for next week, it will be interesting to see how these protestors influence the discussions.

To check out the full story, see the article on IP-Watch.
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May 07, 2015
By Nathaniel DeLucia

A recent seminar, which included both technical and legal experts as attendees, hopes to prompt China into adopting laws designed to protect trade secrets.  Although there has been discussion in China for over twenty years, the legislature has never passed any substantial trade secret legislation.  Currently, China has no law protecting trade secrets, leaving a substantial amount of intellectual property rights exposed.

China’s lack of trade secret protection has huge implications for international businesses, who conduct a significant amount of their business within China’s jurisdiction.  Should any of their trade secrets become known in China, those companies would have a very hard time protecting that information.

Full the full story, check out Bloomberg’s article, located here.
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April 08, 2015
By Nathaniel DeLucia

Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic recently decided to create a centralized patent office, the Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI), which would allow patent seekers to file a single application in order to gain protection in all four countries.  Western Europe has been enjoying success with a similar centralized patent office, the  European Patent Office (EPO), for years.

The VPI is representative of the larger trend toward greater centralization and harmonization of the world’s patent laws, and promises to provide many benefits to potential applicants and central Europe.  These benefits include increased number of international applications, reduced cost, and ease of filing in a centralized location.

For the complete story, check out IP-Watch’s article located here.
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April 06, 2015
By Nathaniel DeLucia

Negotiations are currently underway between the United States and eleven other Asia-Pacific countries (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam) to secure the U.S.’s latest free trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (“TPP”).  The TPP will affect almost all areas of international trade, from   Even dispute settlement and environmental regulations are covered.  Despite the TPP’s broad coverage, its provisions (or proposed provisions) on intellectual property laws stand out, as they further the important goal of harmonizing the world’s intellectual property laws.
textiles and E-commerce, to intellectual property and labor laws.

World harmonization of intellectual property laws has been a major goal of international law since the creation of the original Paris Convention in 1883 and the Berne Convention in 1886.  These two treaties attempted to harmonize the signatories’ (predominately western Europe) patent, trademark, and copyright laws by creating certain minimum standards.  Since the creation of the Paris and Berne Conventions, many treaties have been signed which have sought to make the world’s intellectual property laws more uniform.  The U.S. has signed the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (“TRIPS”) Agreement in 1994(which incorporated and greatly expanded the scope of the Paris and Berne Conventions) and passed America Invents Act (“AIA”) in 2011 (which brought the U.S.’s patent laws more in line with the rest of the world).  The TPP is therefore simply continuing this trend of intellectual property harmonization. 
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March 31, 2015
By Nathaniel DeLucia

Playboy is one of the most recognizable trademarks in the world with registered trademarks in virtually every developed country.  It therefore comes as no surprise that Playboy Enterprises Inc. took issue when Michael Ross a property-developer in London, decided to register the domain name “Playboy.london.” Playboy won the initial lawsuit, filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). However, Mr. Ross filed a subsequent suit in the UK, which has yet to be decided, attempting to block implantation of the adverse WIPO ruling.

A current trend is to use common words as domain names, such as “.tech” or “.london.”  As Web domains begin to collide with Trademark law, lawsuits like the one here should be seen with increasing regularity.

For the complete story, including a brief summary of the WIPO ruling, visit Bloomberg News.
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March 03, 2015
By Nathaniel DeLucia

The Chinese government recently announced a new policy aimed at limiting their dependence on foreign technology.  The policy will require all Chinese banks to turn over the source code for all the various software and technology the banks may utilize.  The idea is to identify foreign source code and replace them with local software products.  This comes as part of a larger plan to eliminate foreign technology from banks, state-owned enterprises and the military by 2020.  If the policy succeeds, U.S. companies may not be able to sell their software products to these lucrative industries.


For the complete story, check out Bloomberg News.
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March 02, 2015
By Nathaniel DeLucia

Leading members of both houses of Congress have come together to express their concern over the proposed changes to the Lisbon Agreement that would grant more protection for geographical Indications of Origin (GIs).  The US is upset over this development for two reasons.  First, WIPO, the organization that oversees the Lisbon Agreement, is allowing a small group of members to enact these changes without participation of a large number of other countries, including the US.  This is in contrast with the WIPO’s general policy of allowing all members to fully participate in any negotiations resulting in a substantial revision of a treaty.  Second, stronger GIs will likely hurt US businesses by preventing, for instance, the use of “parmesan” on cheese unless it comes from a specific region of Italy or “champagne” on sparkling wine unless it comes from France.


For a complete discussion of the US’s objections see IP-Watch’s story, located here.
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February 27, 2015
By Nathaniel DeLucia

Apparently the acronym “WTF” is one of the most internationally sought after trademark designations with over eleven applications pending from around the world.

Most recently,  Wrigley has challenged Pefetti Van Melle’s, an Italian candy company, application to register “WTF.”  Wrigley claims that Melle’s application for “WTF” would infringe their trademark on “Wrigley’s Winterfresh,” and “what the fresh” chewing gum.   If the two companies cannot resolve the matter soon, they will go to trial late next year.

For the full story, including what other companies are vying for the “WTF” designation, see the full story at Bloomberg News.   
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December 11, 2014
By Nathaniel DeLucia

In 2011, Australia became the first country to pass a “plain packaging” law – a law that requires all tobacco products to be sold in plain unadorned packing, devoid of any identifying marks, colors, or logos.  The plain packaging law was enacted in order to discourage people from smoking. 

In response, the tobacco industry and five WTO members (Ukraine, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Indonesia), who sell tobacco products in Australia, filed a dispute challenging the law at the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body. Challenges have also been brought in two of the WTO’s committees: the TRIPS (Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights) council and the TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) Committee.  However, Australia has contested these additional challenges as inappropriate and redundant in light of the ongoing dispute settlement case in the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body.

Resolution of this dispute will have a tremendous impact on the global tobacco industry, as many other countries are considering measures similar to the plain packaging law passed in Australia.
For the latest on the dispute, check out IP –Watch’s article, located here.
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December 10, 2014
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