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Week’s news headlines – oct. 03rd 2014

The Intellectual Property Act 2014: what it means for small businesses

The act, which came into force this week, simplifies the process for protecting 3D designs and puts design rights on an even footing with copyright and trademark

Saiba mais em: http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014

 

 

The Convention on Biodiversity and the Nagoya Protocol: Intellectual Property Implications

The conservation of biological diversity 1 and the ability to continue to use biological resources sustainably are amongst the most pressing issues that the world currently faces.

Balancing the protection of ecosystems, which involve a plethora of animal, plant and microbial species, with sustainable development objectives demands a systematic response at the international, regional, national and sub-national levels by a myriad of actors. The effective preservation of biodiversity cannot be met through environmental protection laws alone.

Saiba mais em: http://unctad.org/en/pages/PublicationWebflyer.aspx

 

 

NetApp sticks biggest “patent troll” with $1.4M fee sanction

This summer, the Supreme Court made it easier for defendants to collect fees when they win patent cases. The decision is starting to have an effect—the nation’s largest patent troll just got slapped with an order to pay $1.4 million in attorneys’ fees to NetApp, which it sued in 2010.

Saiba Mais em: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/10/largest-patent

 

 

The Curious Case of Ebola Patents

As the deadly Ebola virus spreads in West Africa taking a lethal toll with its hemorrhagic fever, curious reports are emerging of the patents the US holds on a certain strain of the virus and the interest of its Department of Defence in developing a vaccine with a Canadian biotech firm. The details are sketchy but indicate an overwhelming American interest in Ebola.

Saiba mais em: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-curious-case-of-ebola-patents

 

 

Supernus sues Actavis for Trokendi XR patents infringement

USA-based specialty drug firm Supernus Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: SUPN) says it has sued generic drugmaker Actavis (NYSE: ACT) and its subsidiaries for infringement of three patents covering its antiepileptic drug Trokendi XR, a once-daily extended release formulation of topiramate, the active ingredient of Johnson & Johnson’s widely-used epilepsy drug Topamax, which is now off patent.

Saiba mais em: http://www.thepharmaletter.com/article/supernus-sues-actavis

 

 

Marijuana Trademarks: Product Owners Struggle With Federal Trademarks

A booming American cannabis industry has fostered a growing group of entrepreneurs looking to make millions from marijuana products. But even in states where recreational use is legal, enterprising business owners are seeing their profits go up in smoke due to another legal snag – the lack of protection for intellectual property.

Saiba mais em: http://www.ibtimes.com/marijuana-trademarks-product-owners-

 

 

Desire for brands and trademarks reflects new trend in merger and acquisition deals

Canada is about to overhaul its trademark regime, and one of the coming changes reflects a new trend in the M&A world: trademarks are marketable assets, and more companies want the law to make it easier to buy and sell them.

“This is a very interesting trend,” says Jake Bullen, a partner with Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP in Toronto. “I’ve seen an uptick in these brand deals. It’s been on my radar for a bit.”

Saiba mais em: http://business.financialpost.com/2014/10/02/desire-for-brands

 

 

Registering Your Trademark In China. The Questions We Ask.

I was just cc’ed on an email from one our China IP lawyers to a client. The email is essentially an introductory email to a client that just retained us for China trademark work. The email asks the basic questions to which we need answers to efficiently and effectively figure out what we should be registering as trademarks in China.

Saiba mais em: http://www.chinalawblog.com/2014/09/registering-your-trademark

 

 

Grooveshark infringed record labels’ copyrights: U.S. judge

The online streaming service Grooveshark suffered a legal defeat on Monday when a U.S. judge found its operators liable to nine record companies for having directed employees to upload thousands of copyrighted songs without permission.

Saiba mais em: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/29/us-music-lawsuit

 

 

SiriusXM Copyright Battle: What Does the Latest Ruling Mean for Digital Music?

The U.S. Federal Court decision that SiriusXM violated the Turtles’ pre-1972 master copyrights by playing their music without licensing it or paying performance royalties is a big win for the music industry, but does it have meaning beyond California where the legal battle took place?

Saiba mais em: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6259277

 

 

Pair Guilty in $100 Million Intellectual Property Data Theft

Two men who reportedly belong to an international hacking ring have pleaded guilty to stealing more than $100 million worth of intellectual property and other data from the U.S. military and several technology companies. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the men are suspected of using stolen log-in information to gain unauthorized access to the computer networks of Microsoft, Epic Games, Valve Corp., Zombie Studios and the Army from 2011 to earlier this year.

Saiba mais em: http://www.toptechnews.com/article/index.php?story

 

 

Three Steps to Protect US Intellectual Property

When it chooses, our government has a substantial capacity to mold world opinion.  Witness last week’s UN meeting of more than 100 heads of state in New York.  The United States helped shape the agenda, and President Obama chaired a special session of the Security Council to address terrorism. America helped frame many issues, but intellectual property was not prominent among them.

Saiba mais em: http://www.forbes.com/sites/haroldfurchtgottroth/2014/09/30

 

 

Great British Bake Off: when iced buns meet intellectual property

Britain used to export coal, steel and iron to all four corners of the globe – however, these days, it’s our television programmes that have us firmly established on the global exports map.

And, of course, it’s one particular type of television format that is the pick of the bunch: the talent show.

Saiba mais em: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network

 

 

India-US to reconstitute talks on protecting Intellectual Property Rights

India and the US have decided to set up a high-level working group on intellectual property to sort out contentious issues which have been hampering investments.

The group will be constituted as part of the Trade Policy Forum (TPF).

The US-India TPF is the principal trade dialogue body between the countries. It has five focus groups: Agriculture, Investment, Innovation and Creativity, Services, and Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers.

Saiba mais em: http://www.firstpost.com/india/india-us-reconstitute-talk

 

 

Subas de hasta 30% en ABL y de 50% en patentes para el 2015

La Ciudad dispuso topes porque, adujo, con el acelerado ritmo de la inflación actual y los impuestos que aplicó Nación a los autos de alta gama, en algunos casos el ajuste se dispararía hasta un 120%

Saiba mais em: http://www.infobae.com/2014/10/01/1598600-subas-30

 

 

Drug Patents Held Overseas Can Pare Makers’ Tax Bills

Transferring individual products is not as advantageous, tax-wise, as moving the company’s official headquarters, which is known as an inversion. Pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, AbbVie, Actavis and Mylan, have been particularly active recently in pursuing this inversion strategy, and President Obama is trying to rein it in.

Saiba mais em: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/business/patents-put

 

 

Challenging patent applications – to oppose or revoke?

New Zealand’s new Patents Act 2013 is now fully in force.  In addition to the well-publicised changes to what constitutes an “invention” under the new Act (think some software in particular) there are some significant changes to the ways in which a patent or pending application can be challenged.

Saiba mais em: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=de3e43bc

 

 

Analysis Suggests More Than Half Of Google & Microsoft’s Patents Likely Invalid Thanks To The Supreme Court

Over the last few months, since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Alice v. CLS Bank, we’ve been noting the good news that the courts seem to be interpreting the ruling to invalidate a ton of software patents. Even some trolls have decided to just give up after seeing how the Alice ruling is being interpreted.

Saiba mais em: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140929/12305128664

 

 

Dark Days Ahead: The Patent Pendulum

Today I am going to talk about what I call the patent pendulum. When Todd Van Thomme and I originally started talking about what I would talk about today I said that there would undoubtedly be something that comes up at the last minute. I even joked that I might wind up talking about how the Supreme Court actually got the Alice decision right, surprising us all and saying once and for all that software is clearly patentable. We all know it didn’t turn out that way. So the title of my presentation today is this: Dark Days Ahead: The Patent Pendulum.

Saiba mais em: http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2014/10/01/dark-days-ahead-the

 

 


Modi must resist U.S. pressure on drug patents – MSF

NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi must not give in to U.S. pressure to change intellectual property laws which allow India to produce generic medicines poor people can afford, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said.

Saiba mais em: http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/30/foundation-india

 

 

“Kleenex Is a Registered Trademark” (And Other Desperate Appeals)

To protect their products’ names, the makers of Botox, Xerox, and Tabasco are advertising directly to the people who write articles about them.

Saiba mais em: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09

 

 

Blatant use of well-known trademarks – acting on intention or ignorance?

We’ve all come across counterfeit products of popular brands and first copies. People have taken it one step further by selling products under the brand name of well-known trademarks like Facebook, Whatsapp and the like on clothing, food stalls and what not. There are a two possibilities; either it is a case of blatant trademark infringement and passing off or it is the lack of awareness. The latter suggests that a person manufacturing and selling such goods with well-known trademarks has no idea that the law prohibits it, thereby raising the question of defense of ignorance of the law.

Saiba mais em: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e53049b

 

 

Intellectual property rights issues could get a resolution system

The dialogue mechanism, likely to get a mention in the joint statement after the much-touted meeting between Modi and US President Barack Obama, will subsequently commence under the India-US Trade Policy Forum likely in November, a top official told Business Standard.

Saiba mais em: http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy

 

 

Intellectual Property: Utilizing supplementary protection certificates for active ingredients in the pharma industry

Copyright and unregistered design right (UDR) exist automatically from the date of creation and do not require registration. The term of protection offered by these rights is pre-determined and does not need to be renewed during that time. However, they only protect you against copying. If someone independently comes up with something similar, they may not be infringing your copyright or unregistered design right. In contrast, patents, registered trademarks and registered designs need to be registered for the monopoly right to exist. Someone who comes up with something similar to your registered rights may infringe those rights irrespective of whether they copied from you or not.

Saiba mais em: http://www.thepharmaletter.com/article/intellectual-property

 

 

Misspelt words as trademarks? Not KOOL!

The Trademark Manual issued by the Indian Trademark Office clearly states that common misspelt words will be treated as descriptive and not allowed to be registered. They’ve even gone to the extent of stating that words which have an American and British spelling like color/colour would be descriptive in both variations.

Saiba mais em: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=107ef180-e732

 

 

Blatant use of well-known trademarks – acting on intention or ignorance?

We’ve all come across counterfeit products of popular brands and first copies. People have taken it one step further by selling products under the brand name of well-known trademarks like Facebook, Whatsapp and the like on clothing, food stalls and what not. There are a two possibilities; either it is a case of blatant trademark infringement and passing off or it is the lack of awareness. The latter suggests that a person manufacturing and selling such goods with well-known trademarks has no idea that the law prohibits it, thereby raising the question of defense of ignorance of the law.

Saiba mais em: http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e53049b2-6b84

 

 

Copyrights owners petition AG, want collection of societies liberalized

COPYRIGHT owners under the auspices of Concerned Copyright and Intellectual Property Owners (CCIPO), have decried  what it termed the monopoly imposed on the business of collecting societies in the copyright sector of the economy.

Saiba mais em: http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news

 

 

World Intellectual Property Organization in shambolic chaos

Yesterday’s WIPO General Assembly was the “worst ever,” with rich and poor countries deadlocked over balanced copyright, fair use, and half a dozen other issues.

Saiba mais em: http://boingboing.net/2014/10/01/world-intellectual

 

 

Could Ebola vaccine delay be due to an intellectual property spat?

Questions remain over why a made-in-Canada experimental Ebola vaccine is still sitting in a Winnipeg laboratory instead of being dispensed in West Africa, with a scientific journal suggesting that an intellectual property dispute may be to blame.

Saiba mais em: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/could-ebola-vaccine

 

 

Malaysian Intellectual Property Management Lauded By WIPO

“It is not easy for Malaysia to obtain such recognition. It is the result of the cooperation of numerous quarters who overcame numerous challenges and obstacles since intellectual property was introduced in 1913,” he said when opening the National Intellectual Property Council here, yesterday.

Saiba mais em: http://www.malaysiandigest.com/business/521541-malaysian

 

 

Has PM Modi bowed to US pressure on patent laws?

A paragraph buried in the US-India joint statement, which talks of establishing an annual high-level Intellectual Property (IP) working group as part of the Trade Policy Forum, has made health activists across the world apprehensive that the Modi government might be bending to US pressure to change its patent laws.

Saiba mais em: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Has-PM-Modi-bowed-to

 

 

OxyContin, Cialis Makers Dodge Court to Beat Patent Suits

Trying to avoid costly legal battles, the makers of blockbuster pharmaceuticals such as painkiller OxyContin and impotence remedy Cialis are trying a new tactic to stay out of court.

Saiba mais em: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-03/oxycontin

 

 

The US has not come close to abandoning software patents, former Microsoft chief patent counsel tells IAM

Last Saturday, the IAM  blog ran a piece written by me based on research I had asked IP data company ktMINE to undertake. ktMINE looked at the patent portfolios of 25 big technology companies and NPEs to find out the number of software patents that each owns. Armed with the findings, I reported that if those who believe that US Supreme Court’s decision in the Alice v CLS case means a significant reduction in the scope of protection offered to software patents are correct.

Saiba mais em: http://www.iam-magazine.com/blog/detail.aspx?g=EFBE1470

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