Does the patent really encourage innovation? This question, that has haunted economists for decades, is important because encouraging innovation is one of the main modern justifications for patents. In fact, the answer to this question is far from bin ...

The development of IPRs worldwide has led to the emergence of IP marketplaces. While these IP marketplaces are still in the embryotic stage in some regard, there are distinct differences in the efficiency of the IP marketplaces in the developed world ...

NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) are becoming more and more economically important, especially with the emergence of web 3.0. There, a host of new use cases in cryptocurrency, the metaverse, digital media and the arts becomes possible. This leads companies ...

The HTBC initiative of the EPO organized on Tuesday 13th September a seminar on “Software and patents in medtech: boosting your growth as SME”. It was designed as an event with expert keynots, case study presentations and discussions on the role of IP ...

In addition to the foreign applicants who have been constantly investing in China’s patent assets, recent years have also witnessed some big Chinese software companies applying for a large number of invention patents containing algorithms or business ...

In the current fast changing world traditional approaches of long term strategic research and development processes might not fit the promptness of change currently taking place. The knowledge-driven economy now sets new challenges that can be summari ...

On Tuesday 13th September the High-growth technology business community (HTBC) initiative organizes the seminar on “Software and patents in medtech: boosting your growth as SME”. The HTBC event is powered by the EPO in cooperation with the CEIPI IP bu ...

Imagine that you do business in a foreign country and your business partner or commercial agent in this country has registered your trademark in his name and is not willing to transfer it to you. Or imagine that you have filed an international applica ...

The healthcare market is a fast growing sector, with around 6% growth per year. One especially relevant area within it are digital health solutions, like health apps. They open up new ways how to convey treatments and open the opportunity to consumer ...

In principle, the same subject matter shall not be claimed by two patents. Nevertheless, this does not happen so rarely in practice. This is because patent applicants who claim both national protection and protection by a European patent often file a ...