Search results for

The coming few years will bring a halt to the dominance of big pharmaceutical companies, which are exposed to patents that will expire on more than $80 billion-worth of blockbuster drugs. A famous example is the patent expiry of Eli Lilly's anti-depressant drug, Prozac, which reportedly lost 73% of market share within two weeks of generic launch. Similarly, Pfizer's anti-depressant Zoloft, which lost patent exclusivity, showed a decline in revenues to $531 million in 2007, compared to $3.3 billion in 2005. However, Pfizer's bigger concern in the near future is when the patent for other famous drugs such as Lipitor and Viagra will expire.

Over the past two years the Venezuelan patent system has adopted important legislative changes, which have forced doctrine and jurisprudence to review the current patent legal framework, as well as the mandatory nature of the rules developed in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPs). The legislative changes have been made to ensure that inventors have appropriate protection for their inventions in accordance with international standards.

In the light of important recent and pending court rulings on patent eligibility, LiLan Ren of McKool Smith looks at the link between patents and economic development through history

Víctor Garrido of Dumont Bergman Bider discusses the efforts to apply a national innovation system in Mexico

China’s revised Patent Law contains new provisions on genetic resources. Jiancheng Jiang of Peksung explains how they affect applicants, and considers whether certain specific inventions would be patentable

Amended Rule 36 EPC on divisional applications has led to confusion. Ard Ellens of Nederlandsch Octrooibureau in the Netherlands provides a guide to the options available

Over the last few months, every week the local press has contained several articles on issues relating to consumer protection. Consumer Protection Day in March was an occasion for various events and initiatives to raise the profile of issues affecting consumers and to increase awareness of the rights of consumers – rights which are now enshrined in the Consumer Protection Law of 2008.

In Colgate-Palmolive Company (Colgate) v The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), P&G challenged Colgate's application to register a two-dimensional device representing a slug of toothpaste comprising green, white and blue strips in a sandwich appearance for the company's dentifrices (which include paste, gel or powder for use in oral hygiene) in class 3. P&G raised three-dimensional mark objections against Colgate's application and also argued:

My company wants to set up a website or blog that allows the public to post their own content. How do I make sure we are not held liable for any IP infringements?

Managing IP celebrated the winners of its 2010 awards at a dinner at the Dorchester, London