News: Uncategorized
Sweden, Denmark, and Finland are leading EU innovators
By AWA Editor | Posted on May 22, 2015
Sweden, Denmark, and Finland are at the forefront when it comes to innovation in the European Union. This was noted by the European Commission in its annual Innovation Union Scoreboard survey for 2015. The survey measures the innovation capacity of Member States based on 25 indicators. The survey is intended to help the countries raise...
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Chinese telecom companies top international patent filing rankings
By AWA Editor | Posted on May 21, 2015
The number of international patent applications filed under the PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) continued to rise in 2014. This is the fifth consecutive year that PCT filings have risen. In all some 215,000 applications for patents were registered during the year, a 4.5 percent increase on figures for 2013. The most active users of the...
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Microsoft barred from registering Skype as trademark – too similar to Sky
By AWA Editor | Posted on May 19, 2015
Skype is not eligible for registration as a trademark, because it may be confused with the registered trademark for Sky that predated it. That is the decision reached a short while ago by the judges at the General Court of the European Union. When Microsoft-owned Skype, a provider of web-based telephony services, applied for EU...
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A musical World IP Day
By AWA Editor | Posted on April 10, 2015
On 26 April, World Intellectual Property Day is celebrated around the world. This year’s theme is music and has the title “Get up, stand up. For music.” Activities will be arranged all over the world, and on the World IP Day Events Map, you are able to see what happens in your country. World IP...
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Two important decisions from the EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal
By AWA Editor | Posted on March 31, 2015
The Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) at the EPO has just decided in two important cases. G 3/14: Decision of the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal on clarity in opposition The EPO Enlarged Board of Appeal determines patentability for plant biotech patents – G 2/12 (“Tomato II”) and G 2/13 (“Broccoli II”) are out
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Samsung filed the most European patent applications 2014
By AWA Editor | Posted on March 27, 2015
Korean electronics company Samsung filed the highest number of patent applications – 2,541 – at the European Patent Office (EPO) last year. Samsung was followed by the European technology groups Philips and Siemens. With telecom giant Huawei in 5th place, a Chinese company entered the top 10 list for the second time ever. (ZTE was...
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LEGO most powerful brand according to new ranking
By AWA Editor | Posted on March 26, 2015
The Brand Finance Global 500 list ranks the world’s most valuable and powerful brands. In this year’s edition of the list, Apple remains at the number one spot as the most valuable brand, followed by Samsung and Google. However, the world’s most powerful brand is LEGO, despite the fact that it only ranks 382nd among...
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USA and Japan join international design protection system
By AWA Editor | Posted on February 18, 2015
USA and Japan have joined the Hague System for the International Registration of Industrial Designs. This means that designers will get easier access to design protection in two of the largest global economies. At the same time, designers in Japan and the USA can readily protect and promote their industrial designs in other countries that...
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Norway joined the London agreement
By AWA Editor | Posted on January 22, 2015
On 1 January 2015, the London agreement entered into force in Norway. This means that it is no longer necessary to translate European patents in order to validate the patents in Norway – it is only necessary to translate the claims into Norwegian. European patents issued in German or French must be supplied with an...
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European patents in Morocco from March 2015
By AWA Editor | Posted on January 20, 2015
Starting on 1 March 2015, anyone filing a European patent application will be able to request validation for Morocco. European applications and patents validated for Morocco will have the same legal effects there as Moroccan ones and will be subject to Moroccan patent law. This means that Morocco is the first non-member country of the...
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