World IP News June 14
14 July 2008
After considerable delay, China has unveiled a National IP Strategy that will see the government consider the possibility of specialised IP courts. IP holders in China have often said that a more unified legal system would be more useful for them, given the difficulties of transferring a case from administrative to criminal enforcement systems.
In the document, there is the suggestion for “the need for appropriately centralising jurisdiction to deal with IP cases that require highly technical knowledge”. The strategy also looked at improving existing judicial interpretations, refining litigation procedures through the use of expert witnesses and technical investigations, seeking an improvement in policies concerning patent standards, and the development of compulsory licensing mechanisms.
This commitment to the improvement of IP enforcement follows the commencement of two WTO cases against China earlier this year concerned with trade barriers and inadequacies of the legal system in protecting and enforcing copyrights and trademarks. The strategy had been delayed by close to a year, until after the first plenary session of the 11th National People’s Congress in March this year.
14 July 2008
Protecode Inc. has made its IP management and governance software development tool generally available. This most recent version will allow commercial software developers and open source creators to more efficiently instigate managed adoption of open source code. There is good news for Eclipse users too, as the new edition of Protecode is now compatible with the system.
Protecode records software content, monitors it for licensing information, and checks its compliance with each company’s IP policies, establishing IP ownership and generating a software Bill of Materials.
The new release includes: multiple language and infrastructure support; a tool for analysis of existing software projects; updated, interactive reporting functionality; and an administrator for policies and registration. It is also prepared for compatibility with the impending new version of Eclipse, and certified for use with IBM’s Rational Application Developer products.
14 July 2008
Business information solutions provider LexisNexis has improved its offering to the IP sector. Along with updates to its online solutions through lexis.com, and to its PatentOptimizer software and Global IP Law Service, the company has launched a trio of brand new online law centres, all with the intention of providing an up-to-date, accurate information source for IP professionals.
LexisNexis’ latest release of PatentOptimizer now offers extended compatibility over the previous edition. Version 3.6 is now compatible with text-based PDFs formatted in Adobe Reader 8.0, Adobe Acrobat 8.0 and the majority of Open Document Management API-compliant Document Management Systems, on top of the earlier release’s Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer compatibility.
Added to the Global IP Law Service (now available through lexis.com) are practical IP proceedings guidance from international experts, and information on global domain name practice proceedings and legislation.
Meanwhile, Lexis’ three new IP law centres offer news and analysis, podcasts, commentaries and blogs.
14 July 2008
Multimillion dollar litigation and business services law firm Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP is in merger talks with full-service intellectual property law firm Welsh & Katz Ltd. The combination of the two companies–to be named Husch Blackwell Sanders Welsh & Katz–would double Husch Blackwell Sanders’ intellectual property division. A. Sidney Katz would co-chair the company’s Chicago office and chair its intellectual property group.
Husch Blackwell Sanders itself was formed by a merger completed on February 29th this year, composed of prominent law firms Husch & Eppenberger LLC and Blackwell Sanders LLP. The firm launched its Chicago office in March this year to better serve clients in the vicinity.
14 July 2008
The European Patent Office (EPO) granted substantially fewer patents in 2007 than in 2006. This is the key finding of the EPO’s Annual Report, which showed the sum of patents granted to be 54,699 in 2007, against 62,777 in the previous year.
These seemingly depressed results do not, however, reflect a general reduction in patent activity; in fact, there was 3.9% growth in the number of applications submitted year-on-year. EPO President Alison Brimelow explained that the decrease in accepted patents was in fact due to a shift towards a more stringent focus on quality over quantity - a change which she strongly advocates.
The Annual Report 2007 also goes on to discuss the primary challenges for the EPO regarding quality assessments, as well as to suggest potential solutions to these issues.
