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Biggest patent offices in work-sharing drive The world's five largest patent offices have revealed a plan to cut patent pendency by increasing work sharing. Jung-Sik Koh, head of the Korean IP Office (KIPO) chaired a meeting held in Jeju, Korea from October 27 to 28. It was attended by the heads of the EPO, JPO, SIPO and USPTO. A vision statement published after the meeting says that the offices aim to: eliminate unnecessary duplication of work among the offices; enhance patent examination efficiency and quality; and guarantee of the stability of international patent rights. To reduce the problem of redundant search and examination work increasing pendency, each of the five offices has committed to lead two foundation projects. These aim to increase harmonisation and enable greater work sharing and are distributed around the offices. The only deadline contained in the statement is that the offices will exchange "detailed proposals" on each project identifying areas of agreement and details of implementation by the end of April next year.

The Supreme Court of Canada has clarified the tests for anticipation and obviousness and reaffirmed the patentability of so-called selection patents in a ruling that could amount to a major boon for Canadian pharmaceutical companies, as well as patentees in general

Peter Ollier, Hong Kong

Effective supervision and management is crucial for any successful IP owner. Managing IP's third annual software survey analyses which tools will work best for you

Eileen McDermott asks James Malackowski, founder and CEO of patent auction company, Ocean Tomo, how he got here, what's in store for the future and what the new US president should do for innovation

The ECJ recently raised the bar for showing dilution, saying that famous mark owners will have to prove that the detriment to their distinctive character has changed consumers' behaviour.

At the November Asia-Pacific IP Forum in Hong Kong, experts discussed strategies for protecting IP in China

Barack Obama will be sworn in as the next US president on January 20: what will his administration mean for IP?

Companies can save a lot of money by outsourcing their IP work, but it takes time and effort to get the process right. Peter Ollier assesses the options

Recent endeavours such as the Human Genome Project have profoundly increased what we know about DNA, the blueprint for life. These efforts provide vast amounts of information regarding the genomes, or complete genetic sequences, of humans and other species. For example, genes are now understood to constitute only a small portion of the human genome, while the remaining portion is the subject of intense research. Much remains unknown about where genes begin and end, what they do and how they do it. DNA research remains robust and routinely yields new synthetic DNAs and purified naturally occurring DNAs. Patents remain vital to protecting these new DNA inventions.