NIPC News

Jane Lambert It is often said that intellectual property is crucial to the efficient functioning of modern economies but there is much less research to support that assertion than might be supposed.  However, some valuable research on the topic has recently been undertaken by the  European Patent Office ("EPO")  and the  European Union Intellectual Property Office ("EUIPO") , In September 2013, those institutions published a joint report entitled  Intellectual property rights intensive industries: contribution to economic performance and employment in the European Union .  The EPO and EUIPO published an updated report in October 2016 and they have now published their third report. The report identifies 353 IP intensive industries in the EU which employ directly 63 million people and make work for another 21 million in businesses that supply those industries.  Those same industries generated output worth €6.6 trillion betwee...

Author Charles Levy Licensed by US government Source Wikipedia Jane Lambert I apologize in advance to those who will be offended by this post. I acknowledge that a photo of a mushroom cloud is pretty tasteless but it is sometimes necessary to shock in order to drive home a point. And my point is that an intellectual property right ( "IPR" ) is a title to bring a law suit which, like weapons of mass destruction ( "WMD" ), has potency only if and to the extent that it is ever likely to be used. The reason why doubt can arise as to whether an IPR will ever be used is that civil litigation is outrageously expensive.  In Ungar v Sugg (1899) 9 RPC 117 Lord Esher MR said: "A man had better have his patent infringed, or have anything happen to him in this world, short of losing all his family by influenza, than have a dispute about a patent. His patent is swallowed up, and he is ruined." Despite cost capping in what is now the Intel...