policy

Dr Francis Gurry

Leave a Comment / Because I felt like it / / / , , , ,

You may have already received notification about this but, just in case, this year’s Francis Gurry lecture will involve a “conversation” with Dr Gurry himself.

Following his recent retirement as Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organisation – or WIPO to you and me, Dr Gurry “will reflect on his 35 years of work within the United Nation’s multilateral system – and what the future holds for IP.”

The talk will be streamed online on 25 November 2020 – 6:00pm AEST. Times in other jurisdictions and registration here. Registration is free.

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WIPO Overview 3.0

Leave a Comment / Domain names, Trade marks / / / , , , ,

WIPO has released the third edition of its WIPO Overview of WIPO Panel Decisions Views on Selected UDRP Questions.

Since the second edition, there have apparently been about 17,000 cases processed by WIPO under the UDRP.

If you have a potential domain name dispute problem, this is an excellent place to start and even more help if you are preparing, or defending, a Complaint under the UDRP.

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Australian Intellectual Property Report 2015

Leave a Comment / Designs, Patents, PBR, Trade marks / / / , , , , , , ,

IP Australia has released its Australian Intellectual Property Report 2015.

In addition to reporting on a range of statistics and some commentary, the report includes a number of “interactive” graphs that you may explore. Much, if not all, of the data is available through the Government Open Data initiative.

The headline point is that applications for trade marks and plant breeder’s rights increased over 2013, while applications for patents and registered designs decreased. The report attributes the decline in patent applications to the increased threshold arising from the commencement of most of the substantive reforms in the Raising the Bar and the rush to file before their commencement.

Australians are the largest source of filings for trade mark, registered designs and pbr. US-based applicants the largest source of patent applications; Australian residents being the second largest.

There were 25,947 applications for standard patents in 2014, a decrease of 13% on 2013. 19,034 standard patents were granted; an increase of 13% over 2013. Over 94% were granted to non-residents. The average number of months from filing to request for examination fell from 16.3 to 13.6 months; the average time from request to first report is just over 9 month and, on average, the time from first examination report to acceptance was a further 14 months. Australians filed 9,012 patent applications abroad in 2013 (41% in the USA), up 3% on 2012.

There were 1523 applications for innovation patents, down from 1676 in 2013. Australians accounted for 66% of the filings.

There were 64,381 trade mark applications filed in Australia in 2014, up 2% from 2013; correspondingly, Australians filed 16,267 applications overseas (in 2013). The top 3 filing destinations were the USA, China and NZ – accounting for 50%. The USA supplanted China as the “top destination”. Apparently, this is in line with a global trend.

6550 designs were registered in 2014, and 1452 were certified – almost double the number certified in 2013. IP Australia speculates that there are few applications to register designs because:

According to Lim et al (2014) the role of IP rights in the market for designs is limited.9 Buyers and sellers in the market view designs as a service that is co-created. As IP rights protect the artefact, not the service, IP rights are perceived as a secondary issue in the marketplace. This view of design rights provides insights into the low volume of design registrations relative to patents and trade marks.

The number of applications for plant breeder’s rights skyrocketed from 330 in 2013 to 341!

The report notes that IP Australia is aiming in 2015 to complete research projects into innovation trends in the mining industry, who and in which areas in the textile, clothing and footwear industry is filing patents and the role of geographical indicators.

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auDRP review

Leave a Comment / Domain names / / / , , , , ,

auda is conducting a review of the auDRP – the dispute resolution policy covering domain names registered in the .au domain name space.

The auDRP was derived from the UDRP, so many of the principles worked out under the latter are equally applicable under the auDRP. Two of the main differences, however, are that under the auDRP:

  • a complainant may have rights sufficient to found a complaint “in a name”, not just a trade mark; and
  • the auDRP requires a complaint to show only registration in bad faith or use in bad faith, it is not necessary to show both bad faith requirements have been satisfied.

auda published an issues paper (pdf).

There is some interesting information about how many disputes there have been and which service providers have been providing the dispute resolution services – in recent years it has been WIPO and LEADR. There is also a breakdown of fees charged by various bodies for dispute resolution under the UDRP.

One question posed is whether auda should put the fees charged for dispute resolution up. Other issues on which submissions are invited were identified by ICANN in Annex 2 to its Final Issues Report (pdf) in 2011 on the UDRP. They include:

Policy/Process Issue

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Description

Safe Harbors

Policy should include clear safe harbors, such as to protect free speech and fair use or other non-commercial rights of registrants

Appeals

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No appeals of process in policy itself– two options appeal of decision or trial de novo

Establish an internal appeals process to ensure implementation of fair trial requirements

Statute of Limitations

There should be an express time limitation for claims brought under the policy

Reverse Domain Name Hijacking/
Uniform Procedures for Transfers

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A finding of reverse domain name hijacking is rarely found, and panelists should be encouraged to make this finding when appropriate

No specified timeframe for implementing transfers

Business Constituency

Delays often experienced in implementation of decisions by Registrars

Loser Pays Nothing

Losing Respondent should pay filing fees and attorney’s fees

However, I am coming to this late: submissions, if any, are supposed to be in by 31 January 2013.

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IP Professionals Forum

Leave a Comment / IP generally / / / , , , ,

IP Austraia is seeking applications from registered patent attorneys and/or trade mark attorneys for appointment to its IP Professionals Forum.

According to the blurb, the IP Professionals Forum:

The IP Professionals Forum is the principal forum for consultation, discussion and information exchange on IP matters that relate to IP professionals.

Meetings will allow for high-level discussion on IP policy, IP management, innovation and the broader IP environment, both in Australia and abroad. Participants will also be notified of IP Australia’s initiatives and consulted on future activities.

The forum meets biannually.  The appointment will be for a term of 2 to 3 years. You have to be prepared to fund your own travel – to Canberra, Melbourne or Sydney depending on where the meeting is.

Oh yes, you will be ineligible if you are already represented by an IP professional association including IPTA, LESANZ, LCA and FICPI.  Does that leave anyone left?

More details via here.

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Australian Innovation Review

4 Comments / Technology / / / , ,

The Government has released the Report On The Review Of The National Innovation System. 

You can download copies of the Report, an Overview, the 3 different press releases, the Minister’s introductory remarks and the Minister’s speech from here.  I wonder if the prospects of implementation are increased or decreased by the quantity of media assistance?

As the Report points out, “we have known for several generations that innovation pre-eminently determines our prosperity.”

And yet:

as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Australian Government support for science and innovation, has fallen by nearly a quarter. Also the number of researchers per 1,000 employees has declined substantially in the last decade, and US patents granted per 1,000 population have plunged from 0.06 to 0.01 (1999–2003). And yet during this time, the public revenue was fed by a torrent of cash from the mineral boom. 

There are 201 pages, plus 7 annexes.  There are 15 pages of recommendations.

Interestingly, there is also a software analysis of the main themes identified in submissions and, very usefully, the Departmental summary of the submissions.

Comments can be submitted to the Ministry until (at least) 23 September 2008.  Well, it is almost 2 weeks!

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