IP protection
What You Need to Know About Seeking Patent Protection Overseas
There was a time when inventors did not have to worry about protecting intellectual property outside their country, largely because products were typically conceived, manufactured and purchased within a circumscribed territory. However, the rise of globalization has changed this. Now, a product produced in one corner of the globe can easily be sold and manufactured all over the world. This new economy presents challenges for patent applicants and/or inventors, one of them being how to ensure that an invention is protected in countries that have easy access to your product or process. The solution lies in filing a patent application in any market-target country — expanding your rights there and making it difficult for competitors to use your products or technology without due authorization.
Experts discuss IP commercialisation, barriers to domestic innovation at 4th Annual IP Dialogue
Experts and Participants discussed support for intellectual property (IP) commercialization, challenges in fighting the global pandemic, barriers to domestic innovation, and the “next generation” of IP policy discussions in the digital economy at the 4th Annual IP Dialogue.
The US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) and US India Business Council, in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), virtually convened government and industry leaders for the final session of its 4th annual IP Dialogue. Although the global pandemic continues to affect millions, this year’s dialogue proved to be incredibly impactful, with IP playing such a key role in efforts to study and combat the ongoing global pandemic.
How Technology is Reshaping the IP Management Industry
There’s hardly any area in entrepreneurship today that deals with innovation more than intellectual property rights protection – in fact, cutting-edge technology and inventions are at the core of the IP industry. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the real-life practices, processes, and management in the industry are as technologically advanced – it’s actually quite the contrary, or, at least, has been until recently. Following the footsteps of tech and service companies, the IP management market has also been exposed to global digitization and automation trends.
Protecting U.S. Intellectual Property & Innovation Leadership: December 16, 2021
American innovation leadership rests on a foundation of rewarding breakthroughs through patents and intellectual property protections. The protections provide the incentives that encourage innovators to invest in R&D and create new technologies while also allowing U.S. innovators and companies to lead in setting global technology standards. Now, facing threats to our national security and economic prosperity, it is more important than ever to ensure U.S. technology leadership, protect our vital intellectual property, and set the standards for future critical technologies.
Join the discussion on Thursday, 16 December, 2.00 – 3.00 PM ET and register here.
Brazilian Patent Law Changes to Patent Term
Innovation Council is monitoring changes to the Brazilian Patent Law. The recent Supreme Court ruling, published on May 12, 2021, finding that the sole paragraph of Article 40 of the Brazilian IP Law, which granted a minimum patent term of 10 years from grant, was unconstitutional, has significant implications for patents related to pharmaceutical products and processes, as well as equipment and processes related to healthcare that were granted prior to May 12, 2021. Unlike all other patents granted prior to May 12, 2021, those excepted patents lose the benefit of a minimum patent term of 10 years from grant, and they will expire 20 years from their filing dates. All patents granted after May 12, 2021, will expire 20 years after their filing dates. Delays in the examination of patent applications and the grant of patents after more than 10 years from the filing dates will result in lesser terms of enforcement from those that were entitled to a minimum term of 10 years from grant.
Although the average pendency of patent applications is being steadily reduced by INPI, Brazilian patent applicants should take advantage of procedures implemented by INPI to accelerate the grant of patents and to maximize the term of enforcement of the patent. From an innovator perspective, the Brazilian legislature would do well to accelerate passage of the pending bill, which provides for extension of the patent term in the case of unreasonable delays in examination by INPI.
Read the full story.
Unprecedented: The Rapid Innovation Response to COVID-19 and the Role of Intellectual Property
On 26 November the new research report about the role that intellectual property played in the development, manufacturing, and global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics was launched in Geneva. The report was co-authored by Innovation Council’s very own Jennifer Brant, and Prof. Mark Schultz.
The report, along with other materials including an executive summary is available here.
2017 Women’s Participation in Patenting: An Analysis of PCT Applications Originating in Canada
This report from 2017, by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, examines international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), in order to determine the share of inventors who are women and the share of PCT applications with at least one woman inventor. The report studies PCT applications by Canadian applicants, and finds that Canada has seen little change in the share of inventors who are women in the last 15 years, even as the world share continues to grow.
Brazil shortens term of thousands of pharma and medical device patents
In the middle of May, the Brazilian Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling, deciding that a controversial provision of the country’s patent law guaranteeing a minimum 10-year, post-issuance term (Article 40) was unconstitutional. The court opted to apply the ruling to all current pharmaceutical and medical device patents (regardless of the specific products they relate to) that have benefited from the provisions of Article 40, as well as all patents with pending nullity actions (filed by 7th April 2021). The judgment also applies to pending applications and new filings (regardless of the length of delay they have faced).
Cato Institute: Why Big Tech Likes Weak IP, by Jonathan Barnett
In his new book, Innovators, Firms, and Markets: The Organizational Logic of Intellectual Property, John Barnett draws on an intellectual toolbox consisting of economic theory, economic and legal history, and political economy, to show that significant reductions in the strength of patent protection are likely to have unwelcome consequences for innovation and competition policy. Counterintuitively, weakening patents can raise entry barriers and shelter incumbents by disadvantaging firms that are rich in ideas but poor in the capital and expertise required to convert ideas into commercially viable products and services. The result is an innovation ecosystem in which research and development and its commercialization tend to take place within integrated financing, production, and distribution environments that can only be feasibly maintained by a small handful of large firms. By contrast, robust IP protections enable innovation ecosystems that support a variety of more‐ and less‐integrated structures for funding and extracting value from R&D investments.
Enhancing Intellectual Property Management and Appropriation by Innovative SMEs
This one-pager by the Innovation Council explains the importance of sound IP management for SMEs, including complementary and hybrid strategies and recommendations for governments. To read more about innovative SMEs, click through the Innovation Council gallery for World IP Day 2021 here.
Launch of New “Horizon IP Scan” Support Service for SMEs
The European Commission recently launched a service called the “Horizon Intellectual Property Scan.” This tailored, first-line, free-of-charge IP support service is specifically designed to help European start-ups and other SMEs to efficiently manage—and derive value from—IP that they create in collaborative research and innovation efforts, especially those that are connected with EU-funded Horizon 2020/Europe projects. Building on a vast network of experienced, local IP experts, covering all EU Member States and Horizon 2020/Europe associated countries, the Horizon IP Scan team provides individual, professional, jargon-free assessments of SMEs’ intangible assets.
How to Safeguard AI Technology: Patents versus Trade Secrets
The article above describes a common difficulty of intellectual property (IP) claims for artificial intelligence (AI): patent claims for AI are often deemed to be no more than abstract ideas. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has established a number of specific categories of AI in order to distil its definition, but the overarching theme amongst these categories is that, if a human mind can accomplish a particular task, it is likely an abstract idea. Of course, AI is, by its nature, an attempt to replicate the human mind, albeit in perhaps a stylized or exaggerated fashion; thus, the difficulty of patenting this technology is readily apparent.
In addition to with patents, legal battles also remain with regard to trade secrets. Rather than engage in litigation to prove infringement, a company seeking to protect a trade secret must instead demonstrate that the secret was misappropriated and that it took reasonable measures to maintain confidentiality. The distinction between patents and trade secrets remains very important for companies: trade secret law undoubtedly offers protection where patents do not, and vice versa.