FICPI EXCO
The Executive Committee of FICPI will meet in Amsterdam June 1 to June 6th and will be preceded by Bureau, Council and CET meetings.(more)
AIPLA and FICPI are co hosting a Colloquium on patent quality. (more)
Beijing Symposium
FICPI is organising a symposium in Beijing on September 20 to 21, 2007.(more)
The Forum returns 7th through 10th of November.(more)
FICPI visits the EU Commission, WIPO and WTO.
A FICPI delegation has recently visited the EU Commission, WIPO and WTO.(more)
FICPI Representation
FICPI has been represented at a meeting of the Ad-hoc group on the Madrid protocol at WIPO, at a symposium on Industrial Designs held in Buenos Aires and at the Standing Committee on Trademarks at WIPO. (more)
FICPI will sponsor Professor Verma from Delhi University to attend the ATRIP annual meeting. (more)
World Congress Washington.
The next World Congress will be held in Washington 6th to 10th of June 2009 (more)
Supreme Court sides with FICPI
FICPI's amicus brief is aligned with the decision in ATT & Microsoft.(more)
New Members
FICPI welcomes the following individual members to the FICPI family
Mr Erkan SEVINC, Turkey.
Mr Kristian John ROBINSON, Singapore;
Mr Sai Fong WONG, Malaysia;
Mr Vijay Pal DALMIA, India
Executive Committee Meeting – Amsterdam
The Executive Committee of FICPI will be meeting in Amsterdam from June 1 to June 6. The "ExCo" is the parliament of FICPI with delegates from each of its 34 associations and sections. The delegates are briefed by the Bureau and the members of the various Commissions (committees). The ExCo will debate the positions to be adopted by FICPI and pass resolutions that establish the policy positions of FICPI.
Among the topics to be discussed at the Amsterdam ExCo is a further proposal to establish a grace period as part of the patent harmonization discussions, but linked with the requirement to provide a declaration as to any prior disclosures that the applicant wishes to be "graced." Such a proposal is finding support in some European countries. The practical implications of such a system will be discussed and a position taken on whether or not to support this proposal.
A further topic to be discussed is the unregistered design right available within the European Community and what promises to be a lively debate on whether the novelty provisions discriminate against non-European disclosures.
During the Exco there will be three workshops. One will deal with cross-border privilege, a second will review prior user rights and the third will discuss finding the right balance in a Regional Trade Mark system.
Some of the information papers for the Executive Committee meeting are now available at FICPI library and others will be made available at the end of the meeting. A full report on the meeting will appear in the next newsletter.
Immediately following the Executive Committee meeting, AIPLA and FICPI will hold a joint Colloquium on patent quality. The Colloquium is being hosted to bring together the views of offices and users of the system to discuss the meaning of patent quality, efforts to maintain and enhance the patent quality and the impact to changes that have been made in an attempt to enhance the quality of the patents issued by the offices.
Over 70 attendees from all around the world will be in attendance and a key note speech will be provided by Ms. Alison Brimelow President-Elect of the EPO. The topics to be discussed during the two-day Colloquium include deficiencies in patent applications presented by applicants, examination problems encountered by applicants and a discussion on what is a quality prosecution.
The quality and timeliness of the PCT will be examined with particular emphasis on the impact of recent changes of the PCT and the maintenance of a uniform quality of the PCT searches.
The ultimate determination of a quality patent is of course litigation and in that regard the Judiciary will be asked to comment on their perspective of a quality patent.
The attorney's perspective will be addressed by considering the problems of differing national procedures, timely searches and the extent of claims necessary to cover all infringements. The role of smaller offices and the ability to manage growth while enhancing quality will round out the discussions.
The speakers will include representatives of many patent offices including the EPO, JPO, USPTO and WIPO. The users will be represented from business groups and industry associations.
Previous colloquiums have provided a frank and interesting debate and a similar result is to be expected from these two days. A full report of the proceedings will appear in the next newsletter.
FICPI is organising a symposium in Beijing on September 20th and 21st, 2007. This symposium will be held at the Kempinski Hotel and includes an interesting scientific program as well as a full social program.
The purpose of the symposium is to compare practices on protection and enforcement in major jurisdictions in the World, including China. The presentations will be exemplified by reference to the "LEGO™" building blocks and consideration given to drafting claims for US, Europe and China, the effect of amendments in those jurisdictions and effective enforcement against infringers.
The second day will consider design and trademark aspects of the different jurisdictions. The presentations will be made by practitioners from each jurisdiction and ample opportunity will provided for comment and interaction with the panels.
Of particular interest will be a presentation on obtaining and enforcing rights in China and a detailed discussion of proposed amendments to the Chinese Patent Law.
The symposium will be preceded with a day trip to the Great Wall and Summer Temple for those who arrive early and an accompanying persons program will be provided on each day. Post symposium tours have been arranged, one to Hangzhou and Shanghai and the other to Xi'an and Shanghai.
Full details of the program will be distributed electronically shortly and online registration will be available on the FICPI website once the program has been distributed.
The FICPI forum will return in 2007 to be held in Seville with and opening on the 7th through 10th of November and working sessions on the 8th and 9th. The two day Forum will follow its normal parallel streams with one stream devoted to patents, one to trademarks and other to general matters.
The patent stream will include an update on developments around the world including the "B- rich" countries, divisional applications, the changes to be brought about EPC 2000 and the role of patent attorneys in the European patent policy. Other topics in the stream include patent value, patent quality and how to deal with patent trolls.
The trademark session includes sessions on counterfeit goods and enforcement, descriptive marks, quality of examination and opposition and new types of marks. The interface of design and trademark law will be considered in the context of the protection of labels and an update on the status of ICAAN and the development of the internet will also be provided.
The general stream is subtitled "A day in the life of the 21st Century E-Office" and will examine developments as more and more offices become "electronic." Issues to be discussed include paperless (or at least less paper) offices, managing of IT Function, external communications and E-discovery. E-Filing, E-Billing and E-Systems for enhancing client relations will also be discussed.
The Forum will be held in the Barceló Renacimiento Hotel and a full social program has been arranged. The opportunity for an optional tour on the Saturday to either Cordoba or Jerez is available.
Full details will be distributed shortly at which time registration will be available online from the FICPI website. To register your interest in attending, go to http://www.ficpi.org/forum.html.
Sponsorship for the Forum has been provided by Managing Intellectual Property and by Informa, publishers of Patent World and Trademark World.
FICPI visits the EU Commission, WIPO and WTO.
A FICPI delegation has recently visited the European Commission, WIPO and WTO to discuss matters of mutual interest. These informal meetings are held on a regular basis and provide an opportunity to make the concerns of the FICPI members known. A more extensive report will appear in the next newsletter but an outline of the topics covered appears below.
Meetings with the EU Commission.
The delegation to the EU Commission met with DG Research, DG Enterprise & Industry and had two meetings with DG Internal Market & Services.
The topics discussed with DG Research included recent initiatives by the Commission to improve the European situation regarding R&D activities in comparison with the USA and Japan, in particular IP awareness for academic institutions and small businesses
There was also interest in making the European intellectual property system more responsive to the rapid evolution of research processes and emerging technologies, perhaps through research exemption or R & D collaborations
At DG Trade, counterfeiting issues dominated with particular attention being paid to ways to combat counterfeiting and relations with countries currently listed as having serious counterfeiting/enforcement problems, such as China or Brazil. The granting of compulsory licenses by, for example, Taiwan, Brazil, Thailand was also of concern.
At DG Enterprise & Industry, the agenda included initiatives at the European level to support the IP development strategies in SMEs by promoting innovation, increasing awareness of SMEs of IP, and promoting more active and effective use of IP by SMEs The use of the Community trade mark and ways to combat counterfeiting within Europe was also discussed.
The discussions at DG Internal Market & Services naturally focused on European institutions with far reaching discussions on the interface of the Community Trade Mark system with national systems. The discussion on patent matters centred around the evolution of the European patent system and the development of an EU-wide jurisdictional system
Meetings with WIPO
At WIPO the patent issues discussed included an update on the work of the IGC on Traditional Knowledge, Cultural Expressions and Genetic Resources (FICPI will be represented at the Eleventh Session 3 to 12 July 2007).
Other points covered included ways of advancing the Substantive Patent Harmonisation discussions and a move toward supplementary international searches; which has long been a FICPI initiative.
The discussion on Trade Marks covered developments at recent meetings held by WIPO and the status of ratifications of the Singapore TLT:
Meetings at WTO.
The meeting at WTO covered two different areas, namely TRIPS and Trade in Services.
The TRIPS topics included an update on the current state of negotiations with some emphasis placed on the health and pharmaceutical areas. The granting of compulsory licenses was also a topic of conversation.
The Trade in Services discussions could have a marked effect upon the IP profession and so issues of specific concern to practitioners were raised, notably discipline provisions and the question of privilege.
FICPI Representation
FICPI has been represented at a meeting of the Ad-hoc group on the Madrid protocol at WIPO and a report of that meeting can be found at http://www.ficpi.org/library/AmsterdamCET/CET-1101.pdf. A symposium on Industrial Designs was held in Buenos Aires and jointly organized by WIPO and the Intellectual Property of Argentina supported by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office. A report on the Symposium on Industrial Designs may be found at http://www.ficpi.org/library/AmsterdamCET/CET-1203.pdf.
FICPI was also represented at the Standing Committee on Trademarks at WIPO during which there were discussions on methods of representation and discription of new types of marks i.e. three dimensional marks, colour marks and sound marks. There was also a discussion on trademark opposition procedures which reviewed the key features of opposition in different jurisdictions. This document will be used a background document for further reports and consideration. There was also a discussion on official marks and the form of notification required for adoption of official marks.
A full report can be found at http://www.ficpi.org/library/AmsterdamCET/CET-1103.pdf.
FICPI has again provided support for attendance at the ATRIP annual meeting to be held in Buenos Aires. FICPI will sponsor Professor Verma from Delhi University, who is a past President of ATRIP and will be a speaker at the Buenos Aires meeting. ATRIP is the acronym for the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research and Intellectual Property and more details can be found at their website www.atrip.org. FICPI sponsorship permits an academic from a developing country to attend the annual meeting and participate in discussions with his/her peers.
The next World Congress will be held in Washington 6th to 10th of June 2009. Arrangements are well underway for the conference program which will have a theme based on a critical examination of the benefits provided by the patent system to the users.
As reported in the previous newsletter, FICPI filed an amicus brief in the US Supreme Court in the AT&T vs. Microsoft case. The case dealt with the applicability of section 271(f) of the US patent statute and specifically whether the supply of a master disk from the US that enabled copies of software to be installed by an offshore manufacturer was a supply of components under that section. AT&T argued that each copy of the software made from the master disc constituted a "component", not surprisingly, Microsoft argued to the contrary.
In its brief, a copy of which is on the FICPI website, (http://www.ficpi.org/AmicusBrief.pdf) FICPI argued that the component had to be the tangible product, namely the master disc and that the US adherence to international treaties precluded the application of its domestic law to acts beyond the US.
In its decision, the Supreme Court sided with Microsoft finding that the "component" was the software as embodied on the medium (the master disc) but did not extend to the software in the abstract. Moreover, US patent law does not extend to the act of duplicating software outside the US. This is a matter for foreign law and the remedy lies in obtaining protection in those foreign jurisdictions. The decision references the presumption that US law will take account of legitimate sovereign interests of other countries and that there was nothing in the enactment of section 271(f) to suggest otherwise. The full decision is available at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-1056.pdf