Insights
Broad Institute maintains patents to Gene Scissors in the US
By Joanna Applequist | Posted on February 17, 2017
The CRISPR-Cas9 technology, the so called “gene scissors” which allow for targeted genome-editing, is subject to a patent dispute between two research teams lead by Jennifer Doudna at UC Berkeley and Emanuelle Charpentier then at the University of Vienna on one hand, and Feng Zhang’s lab at the Broad Institute and MIT on the other....
Tags: cas9, crispr, crispr-cas9
New UK intellectual property minister reaffirms UK commitment to the Unified Patent Court
By AWA | Posted on February 1, 2017
There is a new sheriff in town. Jo Jonson takes over from Baroness Neville Rolfe as UK Intellectual Property minister. He was appointed new minister on 11 January. Baroness Neville Rolfe has previously made some promising statements concerning the UK’s intentions to ratify the agreement on a unified patent court (UPC). Jo Johnson has now...
BEPS from an IP perspective
By AWA | Posted on January 24, 2017
Part 1 – Introduction to BEPS for IP professionals The focus on IP related issues is becoming increasingly more relevant as our economy is changing to become more digital and knowledge based. More are realising the potential of their intangibles and what commercial gains can be won if managed properly. The possible threats and costly...
UK inches towards UPC ratification
By Alicia Kim | Posted on January 16, 2017
There was a sigh of relief at the end of November when the UK announced that it would proceed with the ratification process to implement the UPC in spite of Brexit. This renewed the hope that the UPC will come in to force in 2017 as planned. Whilst this was good news, what did it...
Tags: awapatent, Brexit, patents, ratification, UK, unified patent court, UPC
Danish designer barred from using own name as trademark
By AWA | Posted on December 22, 2016
About a year ago the Danish Commercial and Maritime Court gave their decision in a case between Topbrands and the Danish designer Benedikte Utzon. You can read about it here. In short, the court found that Benedikte Utzon could no longer use her name as a trademark in any commercial activities within jewellery, leather goods...
Tags: awapatent, Trademark
South America: New PPH agreements launched
By Troels Peter Rørdam | Posted on December 21, 2016
The ever expanding Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) network keeps getting new additions, and as usual, the Awapatent IP Blog sums up the new expansions and arising possibilities. The PPH is a system of bilateral agreements allowing the request of accelerated examination at a participating office. The system is based on the search results and a...
Tags: IP, PCT, PPH, prosur, south america
The President-elect and Intellectual Property
By Joacim Lydén | Posted on December 12, 2016
As election night in the US evolved, the Democratic community slowly started to realise the probability, and later the certainty, that there would be a shift of political parties in the White House. Trying to assess how this transition of power will affect the world of IP is not an easy task. Policy documents that...
Tags: AIA, IP, patent law, United states, US
Cautious optimism regarding 2017 UPC implementation
By AWA | Posted on November 29, 2016
During the meeting of the EU Competitiveness Council on 28 November 2016 in Brussels, the UK Minister of State for Energy and Intellectual Property stated that the UK will proceed with their ratification process in the months to come. The statement from the UK Minister for State and Intellectual Property Baroness Neville-Rolfe now seemingly paves...
Tags: UK, unified patent court, UP, UPC
Interesting decision on conflicts of interest
By Ole Bokinge | Posted on November 21, 2016
Ethics and the risk of conflicts of interest are issues that all law firms have to beware of and manage properly. When you use a law firm, you should always expect that your information is handled with confidentiality. Today, many law firms represent multiple clients within the same technical field and sometimes their clients are...
Tags: conflicts of interest, epi
A more efficient trademark application process in China? 13 new Trademark Application and Service centers opened.
By AWA | Posted on November 8, 2016
China’s State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC), which also administers the China Trademark Office and all trademark applications in China, is on a reform path and is putting efforts into facilitating trademark registrations across China’s provinces and lower tier cities and spreading the work outside of Beijing. The need for reform is a result...
Tags: Application, awa asia, china, China Trademark Office, SAIC, trademarks
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