Posts Tagged "patent"

Google’s Silver Bullet for Patent Trolls

Posted on Aug 3, 2015

Google’s Silver Bullet for Patent Trolls

Technology companies take note: Google may have found a way to beat patent trolls, and you are invited to join them. The term “patent troll” refers to an entity which exists for the sole purpose of enforcing or licensing patent rights which were not the result of its own innovation. Although the term “patent assertion entity” is preferred by policy makers and academics, the more colourful and emotive “patent troll” has firmly entered our lexicon and has recently even appeared in a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Google, SAP, Uber and other leading technology companies have banded...

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Patents and Public Health – The New Frontier

Posted on Mar 4, 2014

Patents and Public Health – The New Frontier

The long-awaited South African draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (the draft IP Policy) which was published on 4 September 2013 (read the policy here) has recently led to an unfortunate furore in the press. On 17 January 2014 Money MSN published a report based on a document that was leaked from the Innovative Pharmaceutical Association South Africa (IPASA), an industry lobby group comprising the local subsidiaries of innovator pharmaceutical companies. The document is a plan for a campaign prepared by U.S.-based consultancy Public Affairs Engagement,  to delay and modify the...

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Public Health Sector and the South African National Policy on Intellectual Property

Posted on Jan 24, 2014

Public Health Sector and the South African National Policy on Intellectual Property

The publication of the South African National Policy on intellectual property (SANIPP) in September 2013 has opened a proverbial can of worms and the Pharmaceutical industry is up in arms. The SANIPP proposes the introduction of stronger IP rights through the introduction of, amongst others, pre-and post-grant opposition proceedings, and makes reference to the introduction of compulsory licensing provisions in the Patents Act.  Whilst the focus is on various industries, the matter of public health and the pharmaceutical industry forms a central theme of the SANIPP. The Innovative...

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Draft Policy on Patents – Passages from India?

Posted on Oct 22, 2013

Draft Policy on Patents – Passages from India?

Introduction The Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property (DNPIP) of South Africa was published on 4 September 2013 for public comments. Despite the fact that the DNPIP is not conducive to a systematic and consequential analysis of it and displays an alarming lack of understanding and/or knowledge of existing South African IP law one cannot overlook the repetitive element of requirement for “stronger patents” which the DNPIP states will be achieved through implementation of a search and examination system as well as pre- and post-grant opposition proceedings. There are different...

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Government’s reflections on the world of Intellectual Property

Posted on Sep 30, 2013

Government’s reflections on the world of Intellectual Property

INTRODUCTION Have you ever basked in the warm sunshine of a glorious summer’s day, in daydreaming mode, and allowed your mind simply to wander at random? You start with a thought, you turn it over in your mind, and then a point is reached where you go off at a tangent and muse over some largely unrelated thought, only to be diverted in yet another direction. Eventually you may go the full circle and come back momentarily to the point of departure, before heading off again elsewhere. Daydreaming can be a very pleasant experience and it has the beauty that you do not have to make any...

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