Most of you may be familiar with the efforts of developing countries to introduce a “Development Agenda” at WIPO. For those that came in late (phantom style), here’s the gist from the CPTech website: “On October 4, 2004, the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization agreed to adopt a proposal offered by Argentina and Brazil, the “Proposal for the Establishment of a Development Agenda for WIPO” (sometimes referred to as “Item 12” because of its placement listing on…

A “wiki” kind of approach is being borrowed for other spheres, including patent examinations. A simple idea, yet a brilliant one (as most inventions in patent law are). The August 21, 2006 issue of fortune reports: The problem: an epidemic of shoddy patents.The solution: Wikipedia?That’s the basic concept behind a pilot program sponsored by IBM(Charts) and other companies, which the U.S. Patent and TrademarkOffice appears poised to green-light. The project would apply anadvisory version of the wiki approach to the…

It is interesting to see a rep from the worlds biggest patent filer (IBM) speak of open standards and a collaborative model of innovation. This FE piece states: “Given the complexity of our most pressing societal problems and the diversity of skills and resources required to solve them, innovation will increasingly require collaboration on a broader scale then ever before. Since innovation transcends the invention of new technologies— it is the application of these technologies to some useful purpose —it…

The Financial Times reports: The Controller General of Patents last week granted the first product patent in pharmaceuticals to Roche India Pvt Ltd, the Indian arm of Swiss drugmaker F Hoffmann La Roche, for its biotech drug Pegasys (Peinterferon apha-2a), official sources told FE. ….The company had applied for the patent under the Mailbox facility for post-1995 inventions. Pegasys, a recombinant DNA technology drug, is one of the advanced drugs in the Interferon series of proteins, which has varied end…

After the US and the UK, Ranbaxy suffers another patent defeat over multibillion dollar drug Lipitor in Finland. Like the US and the UK, it will appeal here as well. Thus far, its only victory has been in Austria. The Financial Express states: In another setback to India’s biggest drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, a court in Finland has prohibited it from marketing its generic version of Pfizer’s cholesterol lowering drug Lipitor in the country.The Helsinki court of appeal in Finland…