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Friday, August 31, 2007Germany Completes Ratification of EPC2000.Today, Germany formally has completed the ratification process concerning the  EPC2000. In the German Official Gazette (Bundesgesetzblatt Jahrgang 2007 Teil II Nr. 25, dated August 31, 2007, pages 1082ff.) the Ratification Act has been officially advertised. Also the EPC2000 Implementation Regulation has been published in the same issue of the Gazette.According to the EPO EPC2000 ratification status page, some EPC Member States still have not yet ratified EPC2000:
The EPO has published draft Guidelines for Examination describing the procedures of the EPO's first instances under the EPC 2000 (Status March 2007). Attention is drawn by EPO to the fact that some changes will still be made to the present draft, in particular with regard to references to publications in the Official Journal such as decisions of the President, or any errors which might be detected in the upcoming months while the translations are being prepared. After entry into force of EPC2000, there will be only one final official version of the EPC2000 Guidelines.Technorati Tags:  Patents
Friday, August 24, 2007France Definitively Set To Ratify London Agreement."[...] In the coming days, France will ratify the London Agreement, which does away with the need to translate patents into all languages, Francois Fillon, the new French prime minister, said in an interview with Le Monde newspaper Tuesday. [...]"Read more ...See also more commentary here and there.[UPDATE 2007-09-04] Mr Joff Wild's always up-to-date IAM Blog has unearthed the Official document PROJET DE LOI autorisant la ratification de l'accord sur l'application de l'article 65 de la convention sur la délivrance de brevets européens presented to the French National Assembly under the date of August 24, 2007. I agree to Mr. Wild's assertion that it would take a brave Assembly to vote against such Bill introduced on behalf of the Prime Minister, Mr François Fillon, by the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Mr Bernard Kouchner, while the move is also supported by the President of France, Mr Nicolas Sarkozy. Most probably, the fierce opposition against the London Agreement by the Institute of French Patent Attorneys CNCPI won't really deterioate the chances of getting through the ratifiction Bill.Technorati Tags: Patents
Thursday, August 02, 2007Apple: Huge Bubble Of Patent Assertions That Needs To Be Scaled Back.Yesterday, theStanford Summit 2007 had a session on The Patent Crisis: Crossroads for the Business of Technology. Mr Michael Brandis of Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold acted as moderator of a discussion panel comprising:
TheRegister is reporting on a sceptical standpoint concerning the patent system, in particular in the U.S., issued on behalf of Google:"[...] Google's head of patents believes the U.S. patent system is 'in crisis'. Discussing patent reform at the annual Stanford Summit in Northern California, associate general counsel Michelle Lee told conference attendees that the American system is 'out-of-balance [and] needs to be remedied'.It appears as if the IT industries are unable to find a common view on that subject matter. Apple's view is different: "[...] Speaking alongside Lee, Apple's chief patent counsel, Chip Lutton, wouldn't go quite so far as his Google counterpart. He said the US patent system was 'not broken' and that it was 'not in crisis,' calling it 'the best in the world'. But he acknowledged that there was a 'huge bubble' of patent assertions that needs to be scaled back. 'The question with this bubble market, as with any bubble market, is 'Can we solve it without a crisis arising?' ' he said. [...]"And, IBM appears to share much of Apple's views: "[...] Lutton's attitude was mirrored by that of fellow speaker David Kappos, vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property law at IBM, the company that has led the country in patent filling for the last 14 years. [...]"When it comes to patent policy, many divergencies are not to be perceived between the positions of anti-IP NGOs on the one side and the position some sort of a monolithic bloc of industries on the other but more companies are now meticulously analysing their own business models, and if they find that they are vulnerable by some effects of the patent system they don't hesitate to line up with other patent critics out there. And surely Google might have reasons to fear potential detrimental impacts of phenomena like patent trolls even more than IBM. So far, the picture seems to be consistent.A slating review of the current state of affairs in the patent system referring to the Stanford event is available as usual on Slashdot.Technorati Tags: Patents
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