Wednesday, March 14, 2007
EU investigates Taiwan's Compulsory Licences for CDR Patents
Philips has complained to the European Commission that Taiwan's compulsory licences for patents on recordable CDs (CDR) infringe the Trade Barriers Regulation and are not in accordance with TRIPS. Philips claims to have offered seven out of the eight manufacturers a licence on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. Art 31 (f) of the TRIPS Agreement clearly states that such compulsory licences shall be predominantly for the supply of the domestic market. However, over 80% of the recordable CDRs are exported.
This seems to be to be a fairly clear violation of the TRIPS agreement - industrialised countries like Taiwan really should not be granting compuslory licences to help their local industry. Philips developed the CDR standard and should be entitled to their fair share of the exploitation. It is surely unacceptable for a developed country to invoke compulsory licence provisions without good reason.
This seems to be to be a fairly clear violation of the TRIPS agreement - industrialised countries like Taiwan really should not be granting compuslory licences to help their local industry. Philips developed the CDR standard and should be entitled to their fair share of the exploitation. It is surely unacceptable for a developed country to invoke compulsory licence provisions without good reason.
Labels: CDR, Compulsory Licence, India US Patent Office USPTO, Philips, Recordable CD, Taiwan
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
U.S. and India Sign Historic Memorandum of Understanding on Bilateral Cooperation on Intellectual Property
The US PTO web site reports a Memorandum of Understanding with the US and India on IP issues to help strengthen the Indian Patent Offices.
Hopefully this will help speed up the grant of patent applications in India - which is currently taking at least five years according to my sources.
The Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that Jon Dudas, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property, and Ajay Dua, secretary of the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry (IMCI), recently signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Bilateral Cooperation between the United States and India on intellectual property issues.
“This MOU is a first between the United States and India on intellectual property issues, and it will open the door for an unprecedented level of cooperation and sharing of best practices,” said Under Secretary Dudas.
“The MOU advances the objective established by President Bush and Prime Minister Singh in March for the United States and India to work together to promote innovation, creativity and technological advancement by providing a vibrant intellectual property rights regime,” added Dudas. Under the terms of the MOU, which builds upon the work of the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum and other successful bilateral meetings between the United States and India, the USPTO and the IMCI’s Office of the Controller General will cooperate on capacity building, human resource development and public awareness of intellectual property. Among the activities designed to strengthen the work of both offices, the USPTO will help train Indian patent and trademark examiners, develop education material for the examiners and produce a manual on patent practice for use by Indian examiners and the public. This work will be carried forward with action plans that will establish specific areas for cooperation over a renewable two-year period of time.
Hopefully this will help speed up the grant of patent applications in India - which is currently taking at least five years according to my sources.
The Department of Commerce’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that Jon Dudas, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property, and Ajay Dua, secretary of the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry (IMCI), recently signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Bilateral Cooperation between the United States and India on intellectual property issues.
“This MOU is a first between the United States and India on intellectual property issues, and it will open the door for an unprecedented level of cooperation and sharing of best practices,” said Under Secretary Dudas.
“The MOU advances the objective established by President Bush and Prime Minister Singh in March for the United States and India to work together to promote innovation, creativity and technological advancement by providing a vibrant intellectual property rights regime,” added Dudas. Under the terms of the MOU, which builds upon the work of the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum and other successful bilateral meetings between the United States and India, the USPTO and the IMCI’s Office of the Controller General will cooperate on capacity building, human resource development and public awareness of intellectual property. Among the activities designed to strengthen the work of both offices, the USPTO will help train Indian patent and trademark examiners, develop education material for the examiners and produce a manual on patent practice for use by Indian examiners and the public. This work will be carried forward with action plans that will establish specific areas for cooperation over a renewable two-year period of time.
Labels: India US Patent Office USPTO
