Latest Managing Patents News

• UK appoints IP attaché to India

  Anshika Jha will be based in the British High Commission in New Delhi and work with representatives from UK Trade and Investment and the Foreign Office to help British businesses operating in India

• Analysis: the Nippon Steel dispute and Japanese IP Strategy

  David Makman considers what a decision by Nippon Steel to sue a Korean business for ¥100 billion ($1.2 billion) in a trade secrets case says about the way Japanese companies deal with IP

• Quiz of the week May 14-18

  How much attention have you been paying to IP developments in the past week? Test your knowledge with Managing IP’s news quiz

• What's on this week

  Managing IP lists the IP meetings, decisions and events taking place this week

• Interview: Ellen Lin, law clerk, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

  Managing IP asked Federal Circuit chief judge Randall Rader for permission to interview one of his trusted law clerks for a behind-the-scenes look into the country’s top IP court. We sat down with Ellen Lin in Washington DC to discuss what life is like at the CAFC

• AIA business method provision sparks controversy in Congress

  Members of Congress voiced concerns on Tuesday about the transitional business-methods programme mandated by the America Invents Act, calling it “gross unfairness” and special interest legislation

• Nippon Steel launches landmark trade secrets case in Japan

  Nippon Steel has sued Korean steelmaker POSCO in the Tokyo District Court, requesting ¥100 billion ($1.25 billion) in damages. It filed the suit on April 19

• Interview: Rosa Wilkinson, innovation director at the UK IPO

  Rosa Wilkinson joined the IPO in September last year after working with UK Trade and Investment and Lloyds Bank, where she served as director of public policy and regulation. She tells Emma Barraclough about her IP role

Trade secrets

• Kolon counterclaim against DuPont dismissed

  A US court’s summary judgment for DuPont against Kolon could inspire more use of trade secrets at a time when US patent law is in transition

• Analysis: AMSC’s trade secrets challenge in China

  US energy technology company AMSC is making progress in its trade secrets battle with a former Chinese client, but will find it difficult to prove infringement in a jurisdiction without discovery

• DuPont win shows importance of trade secrets strategy

  A Virginia jury’s $920 million verdict against Kolon Industries for misappropriating DuPont’s trade secrets demonstrates the importance of having the right protection procedures in place

• Appeal court clarifies trade secret protection

  The Court of Appeal in London has broadly upheld a decision that Vestergaard Frandsen’s trade secrets were used by a competitor

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Australia patents

• Innovation patents – enjoy them while they last

  An attorney who drafted two innovation patents that his client last week successfully defended in the Australian High Court has urged IP owners to make more use of the system – before it is too late

• Australia to review innovation patents

  The Australian government has launched a review of the country’s innovation patent system, 10 years after it came into effect

• Australia set to raise the bar for patents

  Reforms planned in Australia aim to improve the patent system and harmonise it with international standards

• Australia considers new definition of invention

  An Australian government committee has recommended updating the country’s Patent Act to change the definition of patentable subject matter

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Patent Cooperation Treaty

• China leads the world in PCT growth

  Joe Biden said the Chinese can’t innovate. But new figures show that PCT applications from China grew by a third last year – and for the first time a Chinese company is ranked number one for published patents

• East Asia leads in PCT filings

  East Asia led in PCT applications in 2010, with roughly 164,300 filed, according to WIPO’s annual PCT review

• Key data from WIPO’s PCT survey

  The reasons why companies have reduced expenditure on patents vary significantly according to region and industry, according to a WIPO report

• WIPO report: selected comments from companies

  Patent owners commented on business strategy, the economic crisis, IP efficiencies and the PCT as part of WIPO’s questionnaire

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