Posts Tagged: "WIPO"

The morality of patents remains a pressing issue, particularly concerning genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Ethical concerns persist due to the historical exploitation of these resources without proper recognition or compensation to indigenous communities. Article 1 of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Treaty on Patents, Genetic Resources, and Traditional Knowledge outlines its objectives, emphasizing transparency, fairness, and the protection of rights for indigenous communities. Despite progress, differing legislative and judicial approaches across jurisdictions often fail to uniformly protect these communities’ rights.

After 25 years of negotiations, representatives from various countries gathered at a diplomatic conference in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 13 to 24, 2024, resulting in the approval of this historic treaty. The main change brought by the treaty is the mandatory disclosure of the origin of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge in patent applications.

For better or for worse, there is no such thing as a worldwide patent. Generally speaking, patent rights need to be obtained in individual countries, although there are notable global filing strategies that can be used to effectively lock in the possibility of obtaining patent protection across the globe or region. But there is no way around it—obtaining worldwide patent protection is expensive. In fact, obtaining worldwide patent rights is typically cost prohibitive.

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Representative Victoria Spartz (R-IN) sent a letter on Monday to U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Kathi Vidal imploring her to take steps to strengthen the Ukrainian National Office for Intellectual Property and Innovations (UANIPIO) in the face of Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia.

On May 2, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) issued its most recent biennial report, entitled “Making Innovation Policy Work for Development,” which analyzes patent filing, scientific publications and economic data across the globe over the last two decades to identify innovation policies effective at diversifying national economies. While WIPO’s report underscores the highly concentrated nature of the global innovation economy, it also highlights several countries that have seen significant improvements in their own technological diversification during the study period.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) established World IP Day (WIPD) 19 years ago to celebrate the day on which the WIPO Convention entered into force: April 26, 1970. And this year, WIPO has set as the theme for World IP Day 2024, “IP and the SDGs: Building our common future with innovation and creativity.” According to WIPO’s website, in order to reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), “we need to re-think how we live, work and play.” Intellectual property is, of course, a major part of this as the engine for “innovative and creative solutions that are so crucial to building our common future.”

The number of design applications filed through the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs continues to grow, with an 18.8% increase in annual filings reported in 2022. The Hague system, which covers 96 countries, offers numerous advantages for applicants and presents some interesting strategic options for filing in the United States as well.

A trademark lawsuit filed by popular grocery store chain, Trader Joe’s, against a cryptocurrency platform called “Trader Joe”—which the complaint alleges is a deliberate reference to the supermarket—has come to light this week. Trader Joe’s claims that the crypto firm buried its origin story in order to win international litigation over the domain name, traderjoexyz.com. Trader Joe’s has offered grocery services under the mark TRADER JOE’S for more than 50 years. According to the lawsuit, a co-founder of the crypto company Trader Joe, going by the handle “cryptofish,” admitted in a Substack publication that the company’s name originally derived from the name of the Trader Joe’s supermarket chain.

On September 27, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023, providing a snapshot of the relative performance of innovation economies across the world. While this year’s Index reflects mostly positive news about the state of global innovation, a slight drop in the United States’ overall ranking should encourage policymakers to advance efforts that would address issues with the country’s innovation engine.

In honor of World IP Day 2023, IPWatchdog yesterday hosted a webinar titled after this year’s theme, “Women and Intellectual Property: Accelerating Innovation and Creativity.” The webinar was sponsored by IP.com and focused on the many ways that advocates for the U.S. intellectual property system can actively create an environment for young professionals to begin thinking about how they can approach careers in the field of IP law. Leading the charge was Renee Quinn, Chief Operating Officer of IPWatchdog, who has handled the business side of IPWatchdog, Inc. for the past 16 years. She was joined by Alison Erickson, Assistant General Counsel, Hallmark; Susanne Hollinger, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, Newell Brands; and Marlene Valderrama, Senior IP Assets Manager and Lead Technology Scout, Halliburton.

Although the mining and metallurgical sectors are still seen as environmentally unfriendly industries, innovation in these sectors has been increasing since the beginning of the century, including in the development of green technologies. Four years ago, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) released a study measuring innovation in the mining industry with patents, “Mining patent data: Measuring innovation in the mining industry with patents”, showing a sharp increase in the number of correlated patent applications since 2005, which is a clear sign of the growth in investments in R&D and innovation made by these industries.

The Patent Cooperation Treaty is the best tool currently available to seek international patent protection in multiple jurisdictions. Keep up-to-date on the latest developments in the PCT system, direct from PCT experts at WIPO. Choosing the PCT route is one thing, but it is equally important to utilize the PCT in the best way possible to your and your clients’…

A company’s trademark activity is a very telling indicator of whether it is interested in a particular country’s or region’s market. Often, a national intellectual property (IP) office or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) IP registry can speak loudest about a company’s true intentions. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. It is instructive to examine how foreign companies behaved with respect to IP registration and renewal in Ukraine to predict how they view business prospects in Ukraine going forward.

Worldwide IP filings increased by 3.6% in 2021, according to a report published November 21 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The increase came during a turbulent time for the world economy, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a global economic downturn. The biggest increase in patent filings was in Asia, where 67.6% of worldwide patent applications were filed. The United States saw a 1.2% decrease in filings and a 1% increase in trademark filings. Trademark applications grew at a much faster rate than patent applications, with a 5.5% in trademark filing activity. Industrial design filing activity also rose by 9.2% with the largest uptick again in Asia. China saw high rates of growth and is a global leader in sheer numbers across all indicators.

The China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released a draft of new measures that would downgrade the ratings of Chinese patent agencies that approve abnormal or fraudulent patents. CNIPA released the draft on October 8, which expands on a trial started in January 2022 in four provinces. The draft sets out to “crack down on illegal and untrustworthy acts” carried out by Chinese patent agencies and promote a healthier development of Chinese intellectual property.