Archive 2008

Seminar on IP strategies for expansion in growth marketsEffective protection of intellectual property (IP) is becoming an ever more important factor in international trade. As a result, companies marketing products and services around the globe are increasingly opting for the protection afforded by patents, trade marks, design and copyrights. The strategic exploitation of such rights often has a decisive impact on the competitiveness of a company and its products.

Enlarged Board of Appeal to review WARF stem cell patent application in public hearing at the European Patent OfficePublic hearing on Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) Stem Cell patent application, case G 02/06, on 24 and 25 June 2008 at the European Patent Office in Munich

Europe well-positioned in eco-innovation, determined to become world leaderParticipants at the European Patent Forum fired an opening shot for a broad discussion about if and how the patent system needs to be redesigned to foster innovation to combat climate change. They agreed that innovation and the development of new eco-technologies have a vital role to play in this race against time.

Europe hails top inventorsAntiviral treatment, aluminium car frame, revolutionary eye scan and robot surgery honoured with the European Inventor of the Year 2008 award

EPO and USPTO to Pilot Patent Prosecution HighwayTrial programme improving quality and pendency at both offices

IPR Protection & Enforcement in China: A new EUR 16m EU-China co-operation gets underwayRepresentatives of European industry, the national patent offices and European intellectual property experts in Brussels today were introduced by the European Commission and the European Patent Office (EPO) to the new EU-China partnership project on the protection of intellectual property (IP).

European Inventor of the Year 2008: Inventing new treatments for AIDS, MPEG technology and greener carsTwelve revolutionary inventors compete for Europe's top innovation prize

With patent applications on the rise, European Patent Office puts quality before quantityAccording to statistics published by the European Patent Office (EPO), the number of European patent applications has continued to increase, but the EPO has granted fewer patents.

Save this date - 6/7 May 2008, LjubljanaEuropean Patent Forum 2008 and European Inventor of the Year 2008

High-level French-German delegation visits the European Patent OfficeThe French State Secretary for European Affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, and the German Minister of State for Europe, Günter Gloser, paid a joint visit to the European Patent Office (EPO) today.

"XY/frozen sperm" patent maintained in amended formThe European Patent Office has maintained in amended form the U.S. company XY's "frozen sperm" patent in opposition proceedings.

Public oral proceedings on the "XY/Cryosperm" patent at the European Patent OfficeAn opposition division of the European Patent Office (EPO) will hold public oral proceedings in opposition concerning a patent concerning related to a method of freezing sperm cells.

"Search Matters 2008": patent searching with the experts from the EPOHow can patent searchers in industry work most effectively? What tools and strategies work best in each technology area? How can we harness the growing data sources of East Asia? The patent examiners of the European Patent Office (EPO) will be answering these questions and more when they share their know-how at the two-day industry seminar "Search Matters 2008" organised by the EPO on 7 and 8 April in The Hague.