Europe - London Agreement to come into force

As discussed previously in IP Menu news (London Agreement likely to enter into force early 2008), a bill to ratify the London Agreement has been before the French Parliament. On 9 October 2007 the French Senate approved the bill, following the approval of the National Assembly. As France will be the tenth country to ratify the agreement, it will come into force four months after the instrument of ratification is deposited.

“Signatories to the London Agreement renounce their right to demand that entire patent applications be translated into their national language. By only requiring that the claims of the patent be translated, the translation costs associated with European patents will be reduced,”

The French parliament also authorized ratification of the European Patent Convention as revised in November 2000 (EPC 2000).

Further information and sources

European Patent Office - French Parliament approvPublish Postes London Agreement

IP Menu News - London Agreement likely to enter into force early 2008

Japan & Global - Updates to the Advanced Industrial Property Network

The Japanese Patent Office (JPO) has announced that further countries have been added to the Advanced Industrial Property Network (AIPN). The AIPN provides machine-translated English versions of the JPO’s examination information and results of searches is provided to other countries.

This makes it easier for other patent offices to process Japanese patents and enables Japanese patents to obtain patents more quickly in other countries. Countries that the AIPN is available in include: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, Chinese-Taipei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Korea, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam, and the European Patent Office (EPO).

Source and further information

Japan Patent Office - Cooperation in the Examination Process: Establishment of an Advanced Industrial Property Network (AIPN)

IP Menu - Conference Calendar updates

Recent additions to the Conference Calendar include:

• 16 Oct 2007 - Building & Managing IP - Biotech & Pharma - Bangalore, India (Institute of Business Laws (IBL) and Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE)) Coverage: - Patentable subject matter, Patentability requirements, Standards for Non-Obviousness or inventive step in Global Context through International Speakers. - Freedom to operate searches, infringement analysis, designing around patents in Global Context through International Speakers. - Pre and post grant opposition, revocation, patent interferences and re-examination. May include compulsory licences in Global Context through International Speakers. Target Audience: The Seminar will be highly useful and beneficial to the CEOs. Heads/representatives from marketing, Technology, IPR, Design, R&D, Legal, HR and sourcing departments in organizations.

• 21 Nov 2007 - Online Liability in a user-generated world - London, United Kingdom (LexisNexis Butterworths) This essential conference will provide you with a definitive guide to the very latest decisions and development in practice and procedure by considering the new wave of user-generated content, looking at what new challenges this is posing for brands and evaluating potential enforcement strategies for rights owners. Attending this conference will enable you to: - Consider the impact of online platforms and the new wave of user-generated content - Discuss whether online intermediaries are pirates, policemen or umpires - Understand the new challenges for trade mark owners from sites such as Second Life - Debate whether social networking sites are friend or enemy - Learn how to identify infringements and infringers and what enforcement strategies are available for rights owners - Understand what safeguards should be put in place to protect children from inappropriate content - Discover what policies employers should put in place in respect of employee blog and social networking sites - Enjoy the opportunity to network with your peers

• 16 Jan 2008 - 17 Jan 2008 - Managing Intellectual Property for Maximum Returns - New York, New York, United States (USA) (IncreMental Advantage)

Be sure to check the Conference Calendar regularly, as new conferences are added each week. If you would like your conference to be listed on the Conference Calendar, please click here.