1. The Doha Agreement on TRIPS and Public Health
Due to the Brazilian insistency during the Doha development round in the WTO in 2001, along with other emerging countries, the “Doha Agreement on TRIPS and Public Health” text was created. The debates that originated such agreement escaped the essentially commercial aspects of the discussions usually occurred […]

Welsh & Katz founding Partner A. Sidney Katz has endowed a new intellectual property law speaker fund at The George Washington University Law School. To be called The A. Sidney Katz Intellectual Property Law Speaker Fund, the law school plans to host at least four speakers each year, beginning in 2008. Also contemplated […]

by Stephen J. Quigley
There are various reasons for not conducting a trademark search when a new mark is under consideration: they’re expensive, it takes too much time for the report to be compiled and an opinion rendered, they’re often immense and loaded with irrelevant and inconsequential references.
Forgoing A Search Could Be Extremely Costly
While these […]

By Nicholas Braddon, HLBBshaw Ltd
More than two years have passed since the UK Patent Office launched its Opinions service. Here, we take a brief look at the basics of the service before analysing certain aspects of its performance to-date and some of the opportunities that it may provide.
What is the Opinions service?
The Patent Office’s […]

Stop Press
Shortly after this article was first published the outcome of a recent Court of Appeal decision in the combined case of Astron Clinica & Others has meant a re-assessment of the current state of play by the UK Intellectual Property Office with regards to their refusal of claims to a computer program or a […]

Stop Press
Shortly after this article was first published the French Government performed the final procedural step of ratifying the London Agreement by depositing their Instrument of Accession at the European Patent Office (EPO). As a result the London Agreement will enter into force on 1 May 2008 and therefore any European patent having […]

By Richard Leoni, HLBBshaw Ltd
Introduction
A recent Decision1 of the European Patent Office’s (EPO) Technical Board of Appeal has addressed the criteria for establishing whether an Internet disclosure forms part of the state of the art.
Can Disclosures Made On The Internet Form Part Of The State Of The Art?
Citing two previous Decisions2 where the Internet had […]

By Suzanne Oliver, HLBBshaw Ltd
Introduction
It is a requirement under European Law that any amendment which is made to a patent or patent application should not add subject matter that extends beyond the content of the application as filed. The underlying idea of the restriction is that an applicant is not allowed to improve his position […]

By Dr. Philip K. Anthony
Recently, the California courts adopted new procedural rules allowing judges some latitude and flexibility in how jurors are treated during civil proceedings. Specifically, courts will now have the option of allowing jurors to take notes and ask questions. Is this a good or bad development in terms of the psychology and […]