February 29, 2008
Washington Post News Article: LINK
Jayed.us Article: LINK
U.S. Supreme Court Decision (PDF): LINK
MercExchange Patent Descriptions: LINK
eBay Press Release: LINK
February 28, 2008
USPTO Announcement: LINK
February 27, 2008
Paste Magazine Article: LINK
E! Online Article: LINK
Contactmusic.com Article: LINK
Foo Fighters Official Website: LINK
February 26, 2008
February 25 – March 8 – “WIPO Regional Capacity Building Workshop on Patent Drafting” (WIPO/IP/SIN/08) in Singapore, Singapore.
March 3-7 – “Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP): First Session” (CDIP/1) in Geneva, Switzerland. The draft agenda for the program is available HERE.
March 4 & 5 – “WIPO Inter-Regional Colloquium for the Judiciary on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights” (WIPO/IPR/KRT/08) in Khartoum, Sudan.
March 10-12 – “Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights: Sixteenth Session” (SCCR/16) in Geneva, Switzerland. The draft agenda for the program is available HERE.
March 31 – “Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO: Forty-Fourth Series of Meetings” (A/44) in Geneva, Switzerland.
Additional documentation may become available as each session approaches.
WIPO Calendar Webpage (Current Month): LINK
WIPO Prior Event and Documentation Archive: LINK
February 22, 2008
On Thursday, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published a list of statistics related to global Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) patent application filings. As noted in the WIPO news release (link below), the first chart discusses the number of published PCT patent applications by company, with Matsushita (Japan) leading the pack with 2,100 published applications in 2006, with Philips Electronics N.V. (Netherlands) second with 2,041, and Siemens (Germany) third with 1,644. The remainder of the top 10, in order, include Huawei Technologies (China), Bosch (Germany), Toyota (Japan), Qualcomm (United States), Microsoft (United States), Motorola (United States), and Nokia (Finland).
Statistics regarding the number of applications by countries of origin are also provided, including final figures from 2003-2006, and estimated figures for 2007 as WIPO will continue to receive PCT applications during the first half of 2008 that were filed with national patent offices in 2007. For 2006, the top ten countries (and the number of PCT applications in 2006) include the United States (50,941), Japan (27,033), Germany (16,732), France (6,242), the Republic of Korea (5,944), United Kingdom (5,090), Netherlands (4,529), China (3,951), Switzerland (3,577), and Sweden (3,316). Statistics for the next five countries on the list, as well as a sum of all remaining countries, is also provided within the first chart, and a detailed breakdown by all countries is also provided near the end of the news release.
In addition, WIPO also compiled a list of the main fields of technology in which PCT applications were published from 2003-2007. For 2007, the top fields include telecommunications (15,751 applications), information technology (15,109), pharmaceuticals and cosmetics (13,936), analysis, measurement, and control technology (instruments field; 13,531), and medical technology (11,890). A total of thirty technological fields are provided within the full list.
WIPO News Release: LINK
February 21, 2008
USPTO Announcement: LINK
USPTO NMTI Website: LINK
NMTI Nomination Guidelines: LINK
NMTI Nomination Form: LINK
February 20, 2008
Trademork Article: LINK
DJ HERO Trademark Application: LINK
Activision Guitar Hero Website: LINK
International Business Times Article: LINK
February 12, 2008
February 07, 2008
As previously referenced by the DDIP blog, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) makes available a calendar of conferences, meetings, and seminars, in Geneva, Switzerland, and elsewhere, along with event documentation when available. The following international WIPO events are scheduled for February, 2008:
February 4 and 5 - “International Patent Classification (IPC) Workshop” (IPC/WK/GE/08) in Geneva, Switzerland. A separate seminar webpage is available HERE, along with the revised draft program.
February 6-8 – “IPC Union - Committee of Experts: Fortieth Session” (IPC/CE/40) in Geneva, Switzerland. Available information (hyperlinked in PDF format) includes the Draft Agenda, the Implementation of the Results of the Reform in the IPC, the Publication of IPC Versions 2007.10 and 2008.01 and Related Reclassification of Patent Files, the Master Classification Database Status Report, and the Consideration of the Composition of the Special Subcommittee for the Advanced Level of the IPC.
February 18-21 – “Standing Committee on Information Technologies - Standards and Documentation Working Group: Ninth Session” (SCIT/SDWG/9) in Geneva, Switzerland. Eleven documents are available at the seminar link.
February 18-21 – “WIPO Audit Committee - Eighth Meeting” (WO/AC/8) in Geneva, Switzerland.
February 21-23 – “WIPO National Specialized Symposium for Members of the Jordanian Judiciary” (WIPO/IP/JU/JO/08) in Dead Sea, Israel.
February 25-29 – “Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore: Twelfth Session” (WIPO/GRTKF/IC/12) in Geneva, Switzerland.
February 25 – March 3 – “WIPO Regional Capacity Building Workshop on Patent Drafting” (WIPO/IP/SIN/08) in Singapore, Singapore.
Additional documentation may become available as each session approaches.
WIPO Calendar Webpage (Current Month): LINK
WIPO Prior Event and Documentation Archive: LINK
February 06, 2008
USPTO Announcement: LINK
February 05, 2008
USPTO Notice: LINK
Bush Administration Letter: LINK
February 01, 2008
The London Agreement, which was originally crafted in October, 2000, to curb the costs of acquiring patent rights in member countries of the European Patent Organization ("EPO"), was ratified on January 29, 2008, and will go into force on May 1, 2008. Currently, while the EPO will accept patent applications in one of its three official languages (English, French and German), upon grant the patent will need to be translated into the language of that specific country to effect ratification. Under the London Agreement, however, any member state having English, German or French as its official language agrees to waive the translation requirement of a patent which was granted in one of those languages.
In an estimate provided by the EPO, translation fees for a granted patent into another language would cost on average EUR 1,400. Considering that most granted European patents are ratified in several countries, it is estimated that this will amount to a considerable cost savings.
As of now, the provisions of this agreement will affect Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Under Article 2 of the London Agreement, and in the case of a patent dispute, the patent proprietor must, at his own expense, supply a full translation of the patent to the alleged infringer and to the competent court. Inclusion of additional countries into this agreement beyond those listed above is still possible through agreement of the party country.
EPO News Article: LINK
London Agreement (PDF): LINK
Bill Lyon is a Practice Group Specialist with Ice Miller LLP, focusing his efforts on domestic and foreign patent prosecution.
