IPTango

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Technical data requests and patent examinations in Mexico

Jeremy October 26, 2010 No comments:

Substantive patent examinations carried out by the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property include assessments of inventions in the fields of biotechnology, chemistry and pharmaceuticals, where it frequently happens that applications lack the technical data needed to demonstrate the pharmacological effect of the substance or use in question, whether because an applicant did not have time to perform the necessary tests while developing the invention or could not carry such tests out at the time of application.

While the inclusion of technical data is an important demonstration of the effect of a novel compound or use and can expedite the patenting process, Mexico's Industrial Property Law and implementing regulations do not require it. Examiners do sometimes require such data before they officially recognise the effect in question on the basis that, without it, the enhanced or unexpected effect is not duly exemplified in the application and the claim is not clearly made out. In particular, examiners commonly require technical data as evidence of a claimed effect to distinguish it from similar effects of structurally related compounds or the therapeutic effect of known compounds.

It is said to be increasingly common for examiners who are not persuaded of the inventive step in an application to issue unfounded official rulings that there is insufficient support for the patent claim, thus declining to recognise the claimed inventive step. Refusal of a patent application in this circumstance excludes valid and patentable claims and may result in the waste of years of work and investment. Applicants faced with official requests of this nature should be aware that the law does not require them to submit technical information in addition to that disclosed in the application.

Applicants should indicate to the examiner the difficulty of performing the required tests and the time and money that would be required. If it has no additional technical data to submit, the applicant should ask the examiner to consider the arguments that it has filed in order to prevent the application from being delayed unnecessarily or even rejected.

Source: "Filing additional technical data during patent examinations" by Jorge Uscanga (Becerril, Coca & Becerril SC), published in International Law Office, here.

Oficina coreana de patentes puede ser ISA e IPEA para solicitudes PCT de Chile

Rodrigo Ramirez Herrera @ramahr October 25, 2010 No comments:

En Ginebra el Director del INAPI de Chile (Instituto Nacional de Propiedad Industrial), Maximiliano Santa Cruz, y Soo-Won Lee Comisionado de la KIPO (Korea Intellectual Property Office, KIPO) suscribieron el 22 de septiembre un Memorando de entendimiento que permitirá a la oficina coreana obrar como Autoridad de Búsqueda Internacional (ISA, International Searching Authority) y Autoridad Internacional de Examen Preliminar (IPEA, International Preliminary Examining Authority) para las solicitudes PCT presentadas en Chile en inglés y para los solicitantes que la escojan como autoridad competente.

Con este convenio, los solicitantes que utilicen la vía PCT a través del Inapi tienen cuatro oficinas para escoger: la Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas (OEPM), la Oficina de Patentes y Marcas de Estados Unidos (USPTO), la Oficina Europea de Patentes (EPO) y la ya mencionada Oficina de Propiedad Intelectual de Corea (KIPO). Se espera que, con este convenio, los solicitantes chilenos que utilicen este sistema procesal internacional puedan acceder a tasas más convenientes.

El acuerdo se logró en el marco de la Asamblea anual de los Estados miembros de la OMPI, efectuada entre el 20 y el 29 de septiembre en Ginebra bajo el lema "Innovación, crecimiento y desarrollo: El papel de la propiedad intelectual y las experiencias adquiridas por los Estados miembros".

Actualmente el Tratado de Cooperación en materia de Patentes (PCT, Patent Cooperation Treaty), permite solicitar simultáneamente en 142 países la protección de una invención a través de una única solicitud internacional. Chile se adhirió al Tratado el año 2008 y entró en vigencia el 2 de junio de 2009, no sin antes haber sido criticada su suscripción por diferentes organismos y entidades gremiales, principalmente por algunos artículos del Tratado con conflictos de constitucionalidad, algunos de los cuales no se ratificaron. En todo caso Chile, a través de la suscripción de los Tratados de Libre Comercio con Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea había adquirido el compromiso previo de armonizar su legislación con el sistema internacional, lo que ha honrado con los textos que sucesivamente ha venido ratificando o se encuentra en vías de hacerlo, como hemos comentado en anteriores entradas.

La evaluación de la decisión de suscribir el PCT sólo podrá analizarse con perspectiva histórica y con análisis de cifras macro, considerando la diferencia tecnológica entre países desarrollados y el resto del mundo, como generadores de tecnologías patentables, y los efectos que producen las solicitudes internacionales en la industria de los países suscriptores, a pesar que se sostiene que su contenido jurídico es meramente procesal y no genera derechos subjetivos (para bloquear tecnologías con la sola solicitud internacional aunque posteriormente no se pase a la fase nacional). Una revisión del texto del PCT, sin perjuicio de no establecer derechos sustantivos (de manera explícita), al ser puesto en juego con ciertos sistemas normativos constitucionales como el chileno, permite al menos hacer reconocible la existencia de una titularidad dominical sobre la solicitud internacional (como título-valor con temproralidad de 30 meses), con su régimen protectivo jurisdiccional (incluso cautelar), que podría permitir a su titular ejercer derechos por vía litigiosa ( incluso con intención meramente especulativa). Por ahora, sin embargo, mientras no se generen sentencias judiciales, no es posible apreciar la aplicación del Tratado en su dimensión jurisprudencial.

En todo caso, el mismo sistema constitucional que ampara el dominio de los intangibles, está inspirado por la subsidiariedad del Estado para intervenir cuando los individuos no pueden, por sí solos, satisfacer sus necesidades, cuestión que a nivel de innovación ha estado fomentándose y respetándose a través de subvenciones estatales administradas por una entidad denominada CORFO y su programa Innova. Sólo resta que el sistema de administración de esas subvenciones sea menos burocrático para que, de alguna forma, la carrera contra el tiempo (acelerada con el modelo PCT) pueda ser ganada por el I+D chileno (extrapolable a todos los países en igual situación) compensando el ingente nivel de innovación patentable que es esperable recibir vía solicitudes internacionales desde EE.UU., Europa, Japón, China y Corea, al menos en una primera época de vigencia del Tratado

En Chile se celebró el Congreso Internacional "Propiedad Intelectual, Innovación y Transferencia Tecnológica: Construyendo Puentes"

Rodrigo Ramirez Herrera @ramahr October 25, 2010 No comments:

En el Museo de Bellas Artes de Santiago de Chile tuvo lugar el 19 y 20 de Octubre el Congreso Internacional "Propiedad Intelectual, Innovación y Transferencia Tecnológica: Construyendo Puentes", organizado por la Organización Mundial de Propiedad Intelectual (OMPI), la Dirección General de Relaciones Económicas Internacionales (DIRECON), el Ministerio de Economía, el Instituto Nacional de Propiedad Industrial (INAPI) y el Departamento de Derechos Intelectuales de la Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos (DIBAM).

El congreso contó con expositores de diversos países entre los que estuvo David Gulley, Vicepresidente de la Asociación de Administradores de Tecnología Universitaria (AUTM), quien por más de veinte años ha estado a cargo en la Universidad de Illinois del tema del desarrollo económico basado en la innovación, Renée Ben, Vicepresidenta de Propiedad Intelectual, Yissum Transferencia Tecnológica, Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén, y Salvador Morales, Coordinador de PI de la Dirección General de Vinculación de la Universidad Autónoma de México.

Con respecto al tema "Los desafíos y oportunidades de incluir la propiedad Intelectual en las estrategias de desarrollo industrial y tecnológico en Chile", se presentaron tres casos de éxito: Fundación Chile (Marcelo Vásquez Gerente de Desarrollo), Crystal Lagoons (Fernando Fischmann, Gerente General), y Rethink (Gastón García, Gerente General)

En todos los paneles y ponencias del congreso se abordaron materias tales como las políticas que promueven la innovación y la transferencia tecnológica; el papel de las universidades en los sistemas nacionales e internacionales; las estrategias y gestión de la Propiedad Intelectual en Chile y en el exterior, entre otros.

Finalmente, el Director del Instituto Nacional de Propiedad Intelectual, Maximiliano Santa Cruz, destacó que "en INAPI creemos firmemente que el rol del sistema de Propiedad Industrial (...) en un país como el nuestro deben ser de instrumento de apoyo a la investigación pública y privada, deben adaptarse a las realidades propias y únicas de nuestro comercio y de nuestras instituciones, además de facilitar el acceso a los beneficios y derechos mediante la creación de sistemas modernos, en línea, de rápido y fácil acceso", señaló, agregando que "la realización de este congreso nos permite, una vez más, dimensionar el carácter instrumental y transversal de la propiedad industrial".

Brazilian pipeline system - again

Patricia Covarrubia October 25, 2010 No comments:

October 21, the Third Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) in Brazil, has denied unanimously extending for almost a year the patent of a drug called Gleevec (in the United States) or Glivec (Europe and Latin America). The drug, first approved in May 2001 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is used for the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and patients with metastatic malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumours.

This case follows the same rulings dictated by the STJ in Viagra (reported here) and Lipitor (here). The case in question refers to a mechanism created by the Brazilian legislation - the pipeline. “The current Industrial Property Law, published in 1996, included the pipeline to protect inventions of pharmaceutical and chemical patents that could not be patented before”. This considers the possibility of protecting under the patent system chemical substances, compositions and products, in particular chemical, pharmaceutical and food industry that were already known. Through this mechanism, the INPI argues that the protection in Brazil should be counted from the ‘first filing’ abroad.

Laboratory Novartis, the owner of the patent, argued that the drug should be valid until March 2013. However, the Supreme Court confirmed the findings of the INPI, which refers to April 2012 as the expiration date.

The case is not reported as yet in the STJ webpage, however you can find more information at INPI's web page.

Registran en Chile frase "estamos bien en el refugio los 33"

Rodrigo Ramirez Herrera @ramahr October 22, 2010 No comments:

Nuevamente los mineros chilenos y la propiedad intelectual dan que hablar. El escritor y sociólogo chileno Pablo Huneeus registró en el Departamento de derechos intelectuales (DDI) de la Dirección de Bibliotecas,Archivos y Museos (DIBAM) de Chile la frase "estamos bien en el refugio los 33" a nombre de su autor, el minero José Ojeda. Esa frase fue enviada a través de una sonda y anunció el 22 de agosto la supervivencia de los mineros 17 días después del derrumbe.

Según informó Hunneus su estipulación en favor del autor de la frase se gestó al "ver al presidente de la República embolsillarse la creación de un trabajador".Agregó que "lo demás, fue un trámite no más, hacer de niño de los mandados" para proteger lo que definió como ´obra de la inteligencia´ y que este escritor considera "una frase genial". Del acto de registro se encargó personalmente de informarle al autor quien se mostró muy contento con su iniciativa.Tanto la frase como su gráfica (escrito con letra manuscrita y con un lápiz de tinta roja) quedaron protegidas en el registro de propiedad intelectual chileno y sujeto al estatuto probatorio registral del derecho autor.

Según el propio Huneeus el presidente Piñera debería devolver el papel a su autor, porque ahora está haciendo uso de una propiedad "robada".

Por su parte, una fuente de la Presidencia chilena señaló a la agencia AFP que el Presidente estima que esta es una creación "que le pertenece a todo los chilenos". En la gira que el mandatario lleva adelante por Gran Bretaña, Francia y Alemania, lo volvió a mostrar y regaló varias réplicas de él enmarcado.

Gracias a Jeremy Phillips hemos sabido de la versión inglesa de esta noticia aportada por la BBC.

‘Los 33’ and the Triumph of Values

Patricia Covarrubia October 22, 2010 No comments:

As everybody else I followed the Chilean miners rescue very close. It was I believe nothing to do with being ‘Latina’ but just a mortal, a human being. This blog has posted some news regarding the IP situation that this tragedy has brought, such as trade marks, domain names and movies.

The BBC news and CNN reported a new one: copyright. It appears that the message that announced the trapped Chile miners were alive and well is now copyright protected.

The note "Estamos bien en el refugio los 33" ("We are well in the refuge the 33") was registered in the Chilean Intellectual Property Institute (INAPI) by Chilean writer Pablo Huneeus and on behalf of Mr Ojeda, who actually wrote the note.

Mr Hunneus idea is to protect Mr Ojeda’s right because the said message has been printed on t-shirts, posters, banners, mugs, and even used in advertising slogans. Therefore, he wanted to ensure that nobody misused the phrase.According to the news, Hunneus was “prompted to officially register the phrase after seeing Chilean President Sebastian Piñera handing out copies of the message to the British Queen and prime minister during his tour of Europe.” He adds, “I thought that's just too much".

Mr Ojeda, is reported to be grateful that no one else will profit from his words, and he apparently wants his note back.

The Chilean leader reportedly considers the message part of the national heritage.

Law and Values:
Chile is a contracting party of the Berne Convention, so in reality the registration is a mere formality – no obligation. Many countries choose to register because they believe that it confers an important means of proof of authorship or creation of a work. Yet, without registration if the note is copyright protected it is born automatically by the creation of it (in this case it is 22 August 2010).

Checking the INAPI I noticed that to register a work, one of the formalities is to submit a copy of the work. Hence, I wonder what copy Mr Hunneus submitted.
The final straw, according to the info is the ‘handing out copies of the message’ to country representatives. Here is where I questioned the whole situation. Many questions I have, but some are expressed for further consideration (you are welcome to post yours):
1.- Is Mr Ojeda the author? He wrote the note, but was the note his expression, or someone else dictated that.
2.- If the note is granted copyright protection, then not only the copy of Chile’s President is infringing but also I gather that the publication of the note and communication are also infringements. At the moment the note was received and published I guess that they were not interested in copyright!
3.- the same goes for those that made and distributed the flags, mugs and t-shirts, were they infringing? According to what is claimed with this news is that they were.

There is the exception of copying for reporting current news, and I believe that at that particular moment everyone wanted to share such important information ‘they are alive’.

The value and the moral of this story is that the message brought 33 miners to life, because of its meaning, because everyone believed, because the Government put all his power to save them, because we humans did have hope and faith. The message unified many people and countries; the message was that, a ‘message of live’.

Lastly, Mr Ojeda’s wishes to have his note back - who is the owner of the message?I strongly believe that it belongs to the nation, to humanity. Don’t you agree?

There is of course those who want to benefit from this tragedy, and prove of this is the registration of several trade marks and domain names from third parties. Therefore, I write this post with a mixture of feelings - this tragedy brought the best of us, but once it ended...well, it ended.

México: descargas ilegales y pérdidas económicas

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb) October 22, 2010 No comments:

Según los datos proporcionados por el director general de Motion Picture Asociation México (MPA) , Federico de la Garza, durante 2009 se descargaron 7 mil 523 millones de archivos de manera ilegal, lo cual se traduce en unas pérdidas de más de 13 millones de pesos en la industria fílmica solamente.

Esto significa que de 26 millones de usuarios de Internet en México, 15 millones de ellos han descargado contenido de manera ilegal.

Dichas perdidas, de acuerdo a lo expuesto, representaron una pérdida de casi dos mil millones de pesos por concepto de IVA.

Desde luego que somos muy conscientes de los daños y perjuicios que ocasiona la piratería, tanto a la industria fílmica como a otras afines, pero también creemos que las industrias deben serlo y empezar cuanto antes a preparar, desarrollar y aplicar nuevos métodos de negocio, el mundo cambia demasiado rápido, al menos el digital, y tanto las industrias como las leyes aplicables se están quedando muy por detrás.

Al respecto debo referirme a una importante sentencia del Tribunal de Justicia de las Unión Europea dictada el día de ayer, de la cual Lucentinus hace una muy buena reseña.

Don't lose your cattle, chip it!

Patricia Covarrubia October 21, 2010 No comments:

In 2008 the Centre of Excellence in Advanced Electronics Technology (Ceitec) developed the first high-tech chip entirely produced in Brazil for cattle. The reason: according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Brazil has about 200 million head of cattle - it is the largest exporter of beef, with figures exceeding $ 2 billion per year. The chip will help farmers to monitor their animals more precisely, which will facilitate to open markets such as the European Union. The monitoring includes: a comprehensive screening of the cattle with data on vaccination, weighing, origins and management among others. At the moment this is mostly done manually which is time consuming and impractical, and moreover the system gives rise to errors. Also, the screening with imported technology requires investment and is not used widely in Brazil.

Ceitec, was launched in 2008. It is a public company allied to the Ministry of Science and Technology. Its primary goal is the development of the Brazilian electronics industry through the semiconductor industry.

In 2009, Ceitec explained that "any chip developed and produced by Ceitec brings two great benefits to Brazil, the first one is the intellectual property: whoever wants to produce these chips will pay royalties to Ceitec (a public institution), generating wealth for the country. The second is that consolidating a national chip industry will allow the electronics industry to mature in Brazil."

Today I read that the chip is expected to be commercialized in 2011, and is still being tested on farms. It is said that “despite using the latest technology, the system is simple.” The cattle chip will have an average price of $ 3 a unit, less than half the value of similar imported technologies.

I do not have anything to say but just good wishes with the product and with the export market. And...obviously as a mother I wonder if this will help to monitor my kids!

The best possible Association Agreement? The EU and Central America negotiations

Patricia Covarrubia October 21, 2010 No comments:

October 15, San Salvador. In the framework of World Day for rural women, the 'Mesoamerican Women in Resistance for a dignified life' called social organizations and communities of rural women to march on the streets and avenues of the Salvadoran capital – the goal, the Legislature or 'Palacio Azul' to present their demands.

Among their demands, is the ending of the Association Agreement (AA) with the European Union (EU). As informed in an early blog, back in May Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panamá) signed the agreement at the Summit of Madrid, Spain.

We are "against the intention of the European Union to take over our public services, our natural resources and energy and to dismantle our agriculture" said Jorge Coronado Marroquín of the Social Alliance Continental Central-America. It has always been clear that the AA is just another FTA (Free Trade Agreement), now with this signature the most affected are excluded, including farmers and indigenous and especially women and it is evident the wishes of taking over the natural wealth...” says the group ‘La Via Campesina and Friends of the Earth International’.

Europe in its bilateral agreements with countries or regions calls for more intellectual property provisions, beyond those raised by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and NAFTA. "This is a form of monopoly to prevent others from accessing a resource or knowledge" the info continues.

97% of patents in the world belong to countries like the U.S., Japan and Europe, 90% are owned by transnational corporations. According to Silvia Ribeiro, researcher and ETC’s president, all the food and pharmaceutical industry are based on intellectual property which is contrary to food sovereignty. "It is based on the use of plants, microorganisms of the countries with great diversity, as is the case of Central America, and it also facilities the theft of organisms, the control of food and agriculture, the move forwards monopolies and more biotechnology" she says.

These are certainly strong accusations, but as in every story there are two sides, or in this case many sides because here is the said of few parties in this whole AA. There is of course happy faces from those in the meat and rice business, since this will be the first time that the Central American countries can export these to the EU. The agreement also provides that the EU will reduce the tariff for bananas in the next ten years and for coffee, one of the key products of the region, the tariff will be zero.

I just wish that Latin America can sit with better cards in a table of negotiations, especially IP. But then I guess that we need to compromise somewhere. Yes, it is true that we have the natural resources but if we do not have the tools to develop those at their best potential then it is when we need to sit tight and negotiate (or not as the picture suggests). Don’t you agree?

I will have to end with the sentence that Nicaragua’s President Daniel Ortega said when the AA was finally signed: “while it wasn’t the best, it was the best possible”.

More info here and here.

www.33.com - domain name may be for sale

Patricia Covarrubia October 18, 2010 No comments:

As it was informed early on in this blog, there are seven web sites pending applications regarding the well known case of the 33 Chilean miners at the Nic (Institution in charge of registering web domains in Chile). I was wondering why I did not hear anything about one of the most common and traditional gTLD, namely .com.

Today, this matter was clarified. I was reading the newspaper El Mercurio and I came across an article regarding this issue. The web address www.33.com is already owned by an English firm and it could be yours for between $ 100 thousand and $ 500 thousand Chilean pesos. However, note the following: to register a name at the Nic will cost $ 18.900 for the first two years.

Is this a type of cybersquatting or hijacking? It is said that the site was purchased back in 2007, and clearly there was no intention to block the registration of the domain name (unless they were psychics). Yet, it is my understanding that domain piracy implies this act – a person who register several domain names at a time which are or will be considered necessary two others. Why registering two numerals? If I consider the offer (price) I cannot draw a conclusion that may indicate good faith.
After all, I am not surprise that people back in Chile is trying to register a more convenient name and after all, a regional one with the ccTLD (country code) .cl.

You can check www.33.com here, and coincidently (or not) it contains a link regarding news of the 33 Chilean miners rescued.