Intellectual property: New rules will make industrial designs quicker, cheaper and more predictable

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The Commission is presenting revised rules that will make it cheaper, quicker and more predictable to protect industrial designs across the EU. An industrial design constitutes the outer appearance of a product characterised by its lines, contours or shape. The proposals for a revised […]

Intellectual property: Commission boosts protection of European craft and industrial products in the EU and beyond

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Today, the Commission has proposed a first-ever framework to protect the intellectual property for craft and industrial products that rely on the originality and authenticity of traditional practices from their regions. This framework will cover products such as Murano glass, Donegal tweed, Porcelaine de […]

Intellectual property: Statement by EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton welcoming the provisional application of the Unitary Patent

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. Today marks an important day for innovation in Europe. Today, the Unitary Patent starts to become reality. It has been a long and difficult way to get here: almost 50 years of discussions, and a decade since the Unitary Patent was agreed.  Today, with a sufficient […]

European Commission steps up protection of European intellectual property in global markets

This article is brought to you in association with the European Commission. The European Commission published today the latest report on protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in third countries. While developments have taken place since the publication of the previous report, concerns persist and a number of areas for improvement and action remain to […]

US and China in painstaking efforts to conclude trade talks

China and the United States are working hard to achieve a trade deal, badly needed for both the two largest economies of the globe as well as for the rest of the world. During the past months of negotiations between the two giants, progress or confrontation in the dealings have been strongly – positively or […]

Robot inventors are on the rise. But are they welcomed by the patent system?

This article is brought to you based on the strategic cooperation of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Kay Firth-Butterfield, Head, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, World Economic Forum LLC & Yoon Chae, Prior Fellow, World Economic Forum Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution; Intellectual Property Associate, Baker McKenzie. Artificial Intelligence is now capable of performing tasks that […]

EUREKA @ European Business Summit 2014: A European patent system can help European businesses lead industrial research and innovation on a global scale

Written by Pedro Nunes, HEAD of EUREKA secretariat A patent filing is usually the very first step before the commercialisation of a new product involving any kind of innovation. It is an important step to any person wanting to develop a new technology, especially if it involves transnational collaboration.  The challenge is to find a […]

The historic accomplishment of a seamless EU patent and intellectual property space

The last building block was laid to its place yesterday, accomplishing the construction of the seamless EU commercial patent and intellectual property protection space and the function of the Unified Court. The relevant regulations will be in force as from 15 January 2015. It has to be reminded that in December 2012, an agreement was […]

No better year for the EU’s weak chain links

The European Parliament issued a Press release this week with the ambitious target to inform us all about what is bound to change in our lives this year, resulting from the application of EU laws. It mentions the mercury ban in thermometers and some new rules in recycling of electrical and electronic equipment, the legislation […]