Fordham IP conference: News roundup

01 May 2010

The 18th annual Fordham IP Conference took place on April 8 and 9 at Fordham University School of Law in New York and featured speakers including US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel, WIPO deputy director-general for patents, James Pooley, US Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters, Jamie Love of Knowledge Ecology and USPTO director David Kappos. Managing IP’s James Nurton moderated a session on developments in EU trade mark and design law.

Kappos touts US grace period as gold standard

Eileen McDermott, New York

USPTO director David Kappos said last month that the US is the "gold standard of patent systems" and that other countries should adopt a grace period for making an invention public in the interest of harmonisation.

Speaking at the Fordham IP Conference, Kappos said: "It's time for the entire global IP community to implement laws that ensure the quid pro quo of the IP system. For many, that means adopting appropriate grace periods."

"It's not about imposing the will of one country on another or challenging sovereignty," he continued. "It's about each country adopting the laws that make the best sense for the currency of innovation...

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