Search results for

With regard to pending marketing authorization applications, the register of the National Agency for Medicines (NAM) has so far disclosed only the filing date, the number of the applicants and applications and the active ingredient to a third party. In accordance with a recent decision from the Supreme Administrative Court, a third party is now also entitled to obtain, upon request, information on the identity of the applicant and the type of the application before the marketing authorization is granted.

Even in the first Austrian Patent Law of 1897, there was a special provision that the Court had to terminate the effect of an interlocutory injunction if the defendant offered an adequate security. The Court had only to judge whether the amount offered was adequate. Over the years, people concerned complained that it was impossible to enforce a preliminary injunction since defendants nearly always paid the security as it was generally set at an affordable price. This unsatisfactory situation remained until a major patent law reform in 1988 when this stringent provision was changed into a possibility. The Court could now on its own finding terminate a preliminary injunction for an adequate security by considering the specific circumstances. Since then, in rare cases the effect of preliminary injunctions was terminated for a specific act, but not generally (for example to allow the construction of certain buildings to be finished).

The government of Kenya, mindful of its obligations under the TRIPS Agreement, published the Counterfeit Goods Bill back in 2005. The Bill would provide for direct, effective action against counterfeiters by a specialized agency. However, its progress towards the statute book has been impeded by prolonged recesses of Parliament and preparations for general elections, to be held later in 2007.

Ylva Skoglösa, Edward Farrington and Ulf Inger of Valea explain how applications can be drafted to avoid many of the problems that have arisen in life sciences patenting recently

Lipitor sales in Australia exceeded A$550m in the financial year 2005/06. The ongoing global patent litigation over this blockbuster cholesterol-lowering drug has resulted in an important development in Australian patent jurisprudence.

China has long been criticized for failing to enforce IP rights. Now, after years of thinly veiled threats, the US has taken the matter to the WTO. Peter Ollier considers what may happen next, and how the row will affect IP owners

A company at the heart of the controversy over compulsory licensing for pharmaceuticals in Thailand is to reduce the price it charges for one of its key drugs

IP's intangible nature does little to bolster investor confidence in biotechnology. Roya Ghafele, who works as an economist at WIPO, says that biotechnology is insufficiently funded due to a lack of awareness of the value of patents among both borrowers and investors

Africa: The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), which covers 16 English-speaking countries, has revised its patent fees: a basic application fee is now $250, plus $75 per country designated. The examination report fee is $250, as is the search report fee. The publication fee is $300. The new fees came into effect on April 1.

How you prosecute a patent can affect how enforceable the right is. Blayne Peacock and Tim Watkin explain why legal changes in Singapore could mean that applicants face unexpected consequences if they try to patent on the cheap in one of Asia's burgeoning R&D centres