Search results for

Standard setting organizations are in a state of flux in the US, thanks to recent setbacks to the FTC's efforts to police members, as well as a new statute. Stafford Matthews, Robert S Harrell, V Walter Bratic and Shirley Webster review the latest developments

A recent US ruling has saved accused infringers from the fear that by not having a legal opinion, courts would automatically infer that such an opinion would have contained unfavourable advice. But, says Scott M Alter, that does not mean that such opinions may no longer be crucial

EU: The European Commission launched a call for tenders for a study looking at the effects of patented computer-implemented inventions. The aim is to set up an independent survey about the effects of computer-implemented inventions on the software sector. EU: The European Court of Justice announced that Irish IP judge Fidelma Macken will leave the court later this year to go back to the Irish High Court from which she joined the ECJ in October 1999. She will be replaced by Mr Justice Aindrias O'Caoimh from the Irish High Court. The Netherlands: The Netherlands has brought its copyright rules in line with the EU copyright directive by updating the Dutch Copyright Act with the new article 29a. It was enforced on September 1. Switzerland: WIPO paid tribute to its founder Arpád Bogsch who passed away on September 19 at the age of 85. Bogsch worked for WIPO as its first director-general for 24 years, while also heading the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

David Barron and Alexandra Brodie examine how patent offices and the courts in Europe treat business method patents. They also compare European and US filing activity and ask whether European financial services companies are lagging behind their US counterparts

Hong Kong has a reputation for being tough on IP infringements. But as a neighbour to one of the world's biggest centres of counterfeiting and a regional shipping hub, it presents its own risks to IP owners. Nicholas Redfearn explains how to enlist support from Hong Kong's criminal law enforcers

The Intellectual Property Owners' Association held this year's Annual Meeting in Boston from September 12 to 14. More than 520 registrants attended the event, which included sessions on the Federal Circuit, employee-inventor remuneration, as well as the intersection between IP and antitrust law.

The Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC) will offer second level domain names (SLDs) from January 3 2005. Until now, Singapore has only allowed registration of third level domain names (TLDs) such as name.com.sg. SLDs are shorter domain names (name.sg) and their introduction gives the public greater choice and more avenues to register .sg domain names. The move mirrors that of Hong Kong, the US, China and Japan, which saw strong uptake for SLDs following their introduction.

Sam Mamudi, New York

Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has served in both the White House and at the World Bank. His time in government helped to convince him that too much IP protection is bad for the economy. He explains why to Sam Mamudi

Congress last year passed an amendment to the copyright law that has had a significant impact on some entertainment industries.