Current Intellectual Property Rights Research Articles

Intellectual Property Rights: Protection of Biotechnological Inventions in India.

The current Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) framework supports the commercialization of seed improvement, monoculture, and the patent protection of novel plant varieties, microorganisms, and genetically modified animals. As a consequence, our rich biogenetic diversity is irreversibly dissipating. However, we need to figure out how to create a methodology for elective choices that will achieve harmony between the official Intellectual Property (IP) structure and maintainable biodiversity components. The majority of the biotechnology sector's programmes in India are managed by the Department of Biotechnology. It is under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Its goals are to provide services in the fields of study, infrastructure, human resource development, biotechnology popularisation, industry promotion, and establishment of centres of excellence. Implementation of practise biosafety regulations for genetically modified organisms, recombinant DNA products, and programmes is based on biotechnology for the good of society. This creates an information network for India's bioinformatics mission in the local, national, and worldwide scientific community.

Legal Challenges of Intellectual Property Rights for Quantum Computing

Quantum computing is a very multidisciplinary field, a blend of materials science, electronics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, quantum physics and the corresponding mathematical framework. The study aimed to evaluate the existing scenario of the choice of the intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection mechanisms for quantum computing, choice of best applicable type, and suggesting some key alternative innovation protection mechanisms. The methodology used in this research consists of general scientific and specific legal (historical-legal, formal-legal) methods besides law interpretation and legal modelling. We critically analyzed the norms for IPR protection of quantum computing from the viewpoint of obtaining protection of inventions and increasing the innovation activity in quantum computing. One of the regulatory mechanisms for every disruptive technology is offering it IP protection. Currently quantum computing hardware is protected by patents while software is mostly protected as copyright besides protection by industrial design and trade secret exist as complementary mechanisms for this revolutionary technology. All available approaches were considered, and amendments are suggested in current IPR legislation to correspond to the reality. This interdisciplinary research revealed the uncertain nature of quantum computing and the difficulty in selecting one type of IPR as the best choice. The best way to establish a sufficient IPR mechanism is to acknowledge quantum computing as an emerging technological cocktail, and to sustain the innovation cycle of this technology. The conclusions of this study can be used to overcome the lacunas in existing IPR system for the quantum computing. This research can be used as torchbearer when preparing proposals for making revisions and additions to the existing legislation.

Challenges and Opportunities in Implementing Intellectual Property Rights Protection System for Creative Industry Development in Indonesia

The Indonesian creative industry stands at the intersection of cultural richness, technological advancements, and economic potential. This research undertakes a quantitative analysis to unravel the challenges and opportunities in implementing an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection system for creative industry development in Indonesia. The study involves 100 respondents representing diverse segments of the creative industry. Findings reveal a nuanced landscape, with varying perceptions of the current IPR protection system, significant concerns about challenges such as piracy, and optimistic views on growth opportunities through digital platforms, collaborations, and global markets. Recommendations from creative professionals emphasize the need for legal reforms, increased awareness campaigns, and collaborative efforts. This research contributes valuable insights to inform policymakers, industry practitioners, and stakeholders in fostering a robust and dynamic creative industry in Indonesia.

Protecting and Accessing Indigenous Peoples’ Digital Cultural Heritage through Sustainable Governance and IPR Structures - the case of Sámi Culture

This article addresses the clash between Western and Indigenous understandings of how cultural heritage should be governed, protected and treated through law, especially in the digital environment. Specifically, the focus is on the ways in which the Western intellectual property rights (IPR) system often stands in contrast with Indigenous practices and ethics. This problem is approached through a single, intrinsic and descriptive case study related to the digital cultural heritage of the Sámi people: the Digital Access to Sámi Heritage Archives project. The article shows how the current IPR framework governing Indigenous cultural heritage is often misaligned with Indigenous worldviews. However, the study reveals that there is room to develop more sustainable, just and inclusive practices by complementing the existing legal rules with soft-law mechanisms, such as norms and customs, co-created with Indigenous communities.

Plant Breeding and Intellectual Property Rights in Nepal

This article examines the adoption of plant breeders’ rights (PBR), also known as intellectual property rights (IPR), pertaining to plant breeding and genetics in various nations. Its main goal is to offer direction for the growth of an organized and competitive plant breeding industry in Nepal. The paper seeks to analyze the mechanisms that ensure adequate protection of intellectual property and returns on investment in plant breeding, drawing on international practices and treaties like the Convention on Biodiversity, Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property (TRIPS), and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). The paper presents case studies to demonstrate how these issues are addressed by looking at the current IPR landscape in Asia, Europe, and North America. These results are the basis of policy recommendations to aid Nepal in developing a strong plant breeding industry.

The waiver of COVID-19 vaccine patents: a fairness-based approach

ABSTRACT Nowadays global inequalities in access to vaccines seem to be a growing problem. Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) have been playing an important role both in causing and worsening them. Firstly, IPRs have promoted a scheme of each-country/each-company negotiation, which clearly has left many low-income countries almost out of vaccine supplies. Several middle-income countries have had to make tremendous efforts, at the expense of reducing the budget for meeting other social needs, to pay for the vaccines as well. Secondly, the COVAX mechanism, which was precisely designed to ensure the availability of vaccines to the Global South, has been severely weakened under this dominant scheme of negotiation. And thirdly, the provided exceptional mechanisms to increase vaccine availability under the current IPR regime do not work in practice because of the many precise conditions that must be fulfilled under that regime. Since under these circumstances many lives can be prematurely lost, the waiver of vaccine IPRs becomes a morally crucial demand.

Mplementasi Perlindungan Hukum Hak Kekayaan Intelektual (HKI) Terhadap Ekspresi Budaya Tradisional (EBT) Di Tinjau Dari UU Nomor 28 Tahun 2014 Tentang Hak Cipta


 
 
 The purpose of this research is to find out how the current intellectual property rights (IPR) protection which regulates Traditional Cultural Expression (EBT). The research approach method used in this study is a juridical empirical method with descriptive analytical specifications. The results of the study found that Traditional Cultural Expressions (EBT) need protection of Intellectual Property Rights (HKI). The government's efforts to protect Traditional Cultural Expressions (EBT) can be carried out by implementing appropriate and proper protection regulations for Traditional Cultural Expressions. The importance of implementing proper and good regulations with the aim of protecting in the future Traditional Cultural Expressions do not experience extinction at both the regional and national levels.
 
 

Islamic Finance as a Vehicle to Promote Improved Intellectual Property Rights in the Gulf Cooperation Council

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to assess how Islamic finance can act as a vehicle to enhance the current intellectual property rights regime in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Islamic finance has developed within the constraints of sharia law and has been a growth sector for the GCC. This article will identify the main principles of Islamic finance that contribute to the success of Islamic finance, which can enhance intellectual property protection in the GCC. The main sharia-compliant areas to be considered are musharaka, mudaraba, murabaha, takaful, istisna, ijara, salam and sukuk. The article will outline the founding principles of Islamic finance, the governance of sharia boards, development of Islamic finance in the individual GCC states, different frameworks of sharia-compliant investment products and the impact of intellectual property rights on the varying Islamic finance investment tools. Furthermore, the article will discuss an integrated approach to intellectual property rights which learns lessons from the Islamic finance sector in relation to infrastructure, regulation and sharia compliance. The lessons learnt from Islamic finance will inform the overall framework of recommendations for an Islamic intellectual property model. The use of Islamic finance as a vehicle to promote better intellectual property rights in terms of defining a new intellectual property approach is novel. It is aimed at spearheading further research in this area, and it will form a part of the overall integrated approach proposals to intellectual property protection in the GCC and beyond.

Judicial enforcement of intellectual property rights in China — from technical improvement to institutional reform

ABSTRACTChina is one of the most controversial fora for intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection. The current IPRs enforcement in China is the result of a combination of external pressure and internal drive, of the paradox of technology reliance and indigenous innovation, and of a mixture of incompatible history and culture with gradually changing social norms. This article aims to provide a critical assessment of the latest development in judicial enforcement of IPRs in China, including improving the professionalism and efficiency of the judicial process, increasing the adequacy of remedies and reducing judicial local protectionism. It concludes that the technical development of the IPRs judicial system is obvious and the remaining problems are relatively easy to correct. However, although China has also adopted measures to increase the power and independence of courts, the structural weakness of courts continues to remain. The Chinese judicial system, institutionally, is not independent, and judgments are influenced by the policy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although the contemporary policy in China is to improve judicial protection of IPRs, the possible influence of the CCP policy in courts remains a concern for the long-term transformation of the IP system.

ARAH PEMBAHARUAN HUKUM NASIONAL DALAM MENGHADAPI ERA REVOLUSI INDUSTRI 4.0

Indonesia has some varieties of ethnic groups that are rich in diversity of intellectual property, there are so many products produced by society. The society creations especially created by the community are assorted, one of them is Paoman Batik. Thre are two kinds of Paoman Batik, those are contemporary and traditional, which is distinguished by its motives, processes, creators. The Paoman Traditional Batik is well-known to the public than contemporary. This research has supported the creators or copyright holders to get higher benefits, both the benefits of moral and economic rights. The main problem is, first, is the current intellectual property rights regime able to provide the foundation for the protection of Paoman Traditional Batik? Second, is the UNESCO's determination that stated if batik is a world heritage, non-object from Indonesia, can be used as the foundation to charge the economic rights of Paoman Traditional Batik? Third, is it possible for Traditional Batik, including Paoman Traditional Batik, to be carried out through other regimes, in addition to the intellectual property regime? Fourth, how is the effect of Paoman Traditional Batik Registered at the Directorate General of Intellectual Property of Indonesia on the Progress of Indramayu society?
 The research method used is descriptive specification, by using juridical empirical approach, which focus on secondary research consisting of legal materials, both primary, secondary and tertiary. However it is supported by primary data generated from field research through in-depth interview and survey techniques. The analysis used is descriptive analysis.
 The results of the study show that intellectual property rights that is copyright cannot be made as the foundation of protection against the creation of society that have traditional and communal motives, including the Paoman Tradsional Batik. The establishment of Batik by UNESCO as a non-object world heritage from Indonesia has increased the moral rights of Indonesia, but it also cannot be established as the foundation for restoring economic rights when there is a misappropriation. Another alternative to intellectual property is through the Sui Generis regime, which specifically addresses the protection of community rights, including intellectual property rights.

Performance Evaluation on Intellectual Property Rights Policy System of the Renewable Energy in China

With the intensive consumption and price rising of traditional fossil fuels, the development and utilization of renewable energy has attracted worldwide attention. Meanwhile, due to enhanced energy constraints and increasingly grim greenhouse gases, many countries all over the world have been developing renewable energy technologies to promote sustainable growth economically. Intellectual property rights (IPR) policy linked to renewable energy provides institutional guarantee for the development of renewable energy industry and technology. This study works to test the performance of IPR policies of renewable energy industry in China. We employed Cobb-Douglas production function and built on a quantitative policy indicator measurement system over the period from 2004 to 2013 to evaluate the impact of IPR policy of renewable energy industry on innovation and market development in China, which provides an all-round study on the IPR system by clearing up all IPR policy system that is related to the renewable energy industry. The results of Multiple Regression Models indicated that the current IPR policy of renewable energy industry are disconnected from China’s reality because the innovation ability of the renewable energy industry has not been improved rapidly and that both the market transformation ability and market prospect of new energy technology patents are weak.

PERLINDUNGAN HAK ATAS KEKAYAAN INTELEKTUAL BATIK TRADISIONAL PAOMAN DALAM MENINGKATKAN EKONOMI MASYARAKAT INDRAMAYU

Indonesia has some varieties of ethnic groups that are rich in diversity of intellectual property, there are so many products produced by society. The society creations especially created by the community are assorted, one of them is Paoman Batik. Thre are two kinds of Paoman Batik, those are contemporary and traditional, which is distinguished by its motives, processes, creators. The Paoman Traditional Batik is well-known to the public than contemporary. This research has supported the creators or copyright holders to get higher benefits, both the benefits of moral and economic rights. The main problem is, first, is the current intellectual property rights regime able to provide the foundation for the protection of Paoman Traditional Batik? Second, is the UNESCO's determination that stated if batik is a world heritage, non-object from Indonesia, can be used as the foundation to charge the economic rights of Paoman Traditional Batik? Third, is it possible for Traditional Batik, including Paoman Traditional Batik, to be carried out through other regimes, in addition to the intellectual property regime? Fourth, how is the effect of Paoman Traditional Batik Registered at the Directorate General of Intellectual Property of Indonesia on the Progress of Indramayu society?
 The research method used is descriptive specification, by using juridical empirical approach, which focus on secondary research consisting of legal materials, both primary, secondary and tertiary. However it is supported by primary data generated from field research through in-depth interview and survey techniques. The analysis used is descriptive analysis.
 The results of the study show that intellectual property rights that is copyright cannot be made as the foundation of protection against the creation of society that have traditional and communal motives, including the Paoman Tradsional Batik. The establishment of Batik by UNESCO as a non-object world heritage from Indonesia has increased the moral rights of Indonesia, but it also cannot be established as the foundation for restoring economic rights when there is a misappropriation. Another alternative to intellectual property is through the Sui Generis regime, which specifically addresses the protection of community rights, including intellectual property rights.

Why the ETSI IPR Policy Does Not and Has Never Required Compulsory License to Alll: A Rebuttal to Karl Heinz Rosenbrock

Bertram Huber is a legal expert who personally participated in elaborating and drafting the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy adopted by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). In this paper, he explains the history and reasoning for his view that the obligation to license under the ETSI IPR Policy, once a commitment is given to license at fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms and conditions, does not necessarily extend to chipsets and other electronic components of standards-compliant end-devices. He further explains why, in his view, the ETSI IPR Policy does not compel an “essential” IPR holder to grant a license to every company that requests one, without consideration of where the license-seeking company operates in the chain of production or of whether that license would be duplicative of licenses granted to others. As explained by the author, his views are consistent with, and supported by, ETSI’s objectives and intent at the time it adopted its current IPR Policy, the express Policy language, and the long-standing practice of the telecommunications industry. In particular, he highlights how, in adopting its IPR Policy, ETSI intended to safeguard access to the cellular standards without changing the prevailing industry practice of manufacturers of complete end-devices concluding licenses to the standard essential patents practiced in those end-devices. Huber’s views on these issues rebut the positions taken by ETSI’s former Director-General, Karl Heinz Rosenbrock, in his recent paper titled Why the ETSI IPR Policy Requires Licensing to All.

China and intellectual property rights: A challenge to the rule of law

China is not meeting its international obligations to protect intellectual property rights (IPRs), harming the innovation process in China and elsewhere. We review the benefits of IPR protection and discuss the magnitude and cost of China’s IPR violations. We also emphasize that these violations undermine the international rule of law and impair China’s legitimacy as a leader in evolving global governance institutions. We criticize the argument that China will endogenously improve IPR protection due to internal pressures from its domestic IP sector as the United States and some other countries did in the past. China’s governance institutions are very different from those of the liberal Western democracies, past and present, as China has a weak internal rule of law, a fragmented governance system, and cultural traditions that favor collective over individual rights. As China’s IP sector develops, its IPR governance regime might even be used as a strategic tool to further disadvantage foreign IPR holders. We argue that China should play a lead role in any international IPR reforms but that it must first establish legitimacy by meeting its current international IPR commitments. We conclude that other countries should take action to pressure China to meet its IPR obligations.

Legal Transplantation of Intellectual Property Rights in China: Resistance, Adaptation and Reconciliation

China’s current intellectual property rights (IPRs) system has been developed through the transplantation of the concept and models from the Western world following its socialist market economy reforms in the late 1970s. The process of establishing an IP regime in China thus reflects a vivid model of legal transplantation. This study examines how China’s IP regime has been shaped and how the legal transplantation of IP laws has interacted with norm building concerning IPRs in Chinese society. In China, local social norms inherently conflict with the idea of IPRs. China’s IP norms have been shaped by the convergence of political, economic, cultural and legal factors. Therefore, in transplanting foreign IP laws, China has also created its own legal and social norms, which diverge from those of the source of legal transplantation. In this process, China is thus not only a norm taker but also a norm maker. The resistance to the legal transplantation of IPRs has led to a divergence between the formal IP rules in China and the actual IP norms as they are followed in practice, which has resulted in difficulty in the enforcement of IP laws. The achievement of convergence between IP laws and IP norms in China will ultimately require improvements in IP governance and the establishment of rule-of-law norms in China.

Complementary approaches to discursive contestation on the effects of the IPR regime on technology transfer in the face of climate change

The effects of intellectual property rights (IPR) on the transfer of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) has resulted in discursive contestation. On the one hand, the IPR regime is regarded as a catalyst to ESTs transfer. On the other hand, the IPR regime itself is argued to work as a barrier to the transfer of ESTs to developing countries. This contestation moved to another layer of discussion concerning what to do about the current IPR regime and the climate change regime that overlap on the subject matter of technology transfer. The IPR-as-a-catalyst approach prefers the IPR regime to remain as the status quo and that the climate change regime construct an enabling environment by lowering the transaction costs of technology transfer and enhancing the regulatory capacity of developing countries. On the contrary, skeptics of the role of the IPR regime in ESTs transfer prefer an active utilization of the flexible mechanisms of the IPR regime and more interventionist actions by the climate change regime for effective IPR-sharing. Regarding this bi-polar contestation, this paper analyzes why and where this discursive contestation occurs based on the economic theories of market failure. The benefits and difficulties of remedial institutional approaches to tackle market failures are explored; then, complementary institutional designs in compatibility with the IPR regime and in response to market failures are explored with exemplary cases under the climate change regime.

Standard Setting, Intellectual Property Rights, and the Role of Antitrust in Regulating Incomplete Contracts

A large and growing number of regulators and academics, while recognizing the benefits of standardization, view skeptically the role standard setting organizations (SSOs) play in facilitating standardization and commercialization of intellectual property rights (IPRs). Competition agencies and commentators suggest specific changes to current SSO IPR policies to reduce incompleteness and favor an expanded role for antitrust law in deterring patent holdup. These criticisms and policy proposals are based upon the premise that the incompleteness of SSO contracts is inefficient and the result of market failure rather than an efficient outcome reflecting the costs and benefits of adding greater specificity to SSO contracts and emerging from a competitive contracting environment. We explore conceptually and empirically that presumption. We also document and analyze changes to eleven SSO IPR policies over time. We find that SSOs and their IPR policies appear to be responsive to changes in perceived patent holdup risks and other factors. We find the SSOs’ responses to these changes are varied across SSOs, and that contractual incompleteness and ambiguity for certain terms persist both across SSOs and over time, despite many revisions and improvements to IPR policies. We interpret this evidence as consistent with a competitive contracting process. We conclude by exploring the implications of these findings for identifying the appropriate role of antitrust law in governing ex post opportunism in the SSO setting.

The quest for 'real' protection for indigenous intangible property rights

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) and the regimes of protection and enforcement surrounding them have often been the subject of debate, a debate fuelled in the past year by the increased emphasis on free-trade negotiations and multi-lateral treaties including the now-rejected AntiCounterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and its Goliath cousin, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). The significant media coverage afforded to these treaties, however, risks thrusting certain perspectives of IPR protection and enforcement into the spotlight, while eclipsing alternative, but equally crucial voices that are perhaps in greater need of legitimate dialogue to safeguard their own collection of intangible rights. Caught in the vortex of inadequate recognition and ineffective protection, are the communal intellectual property rights of indigenous communities, centred on traditional knowledge (TK), traditional cultural expressions (TCE), expressions of folklore (EoF) and genetic resources (GR). The fundamental incompatibility between current IPR regimes and the rights of indigenous peoples stems largely from the lack of understanding of the driving forces that have led to the development of TK, TCEs, EoFs and GRs – that of the protection of whole indigenous cultures through the preservation of the traditional knowledge acquired by these communities as a whole. The issues are complex. Professor James Anaya’s 2014 keynote speech at the 26 Session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore at WIPO highlighted the differences governing the intangible rights of indigenous peoples generally, and why these world views have so often been left out of the current mainframe of IPRs. Whereas, the majority view of IPRs tends to focus on the rights of the individual and their protection as such, indigenous cultures are inherently built over centuries and across generations on communal understandings and organic exchanges of knowledge, making it practically impossible to ascribe the ownership of a certain set of IPRs to one or a few individuals. As Professor Anaya articulates and the authors of this special issue of JIPLP varyingly contemplate, the similarities between the inadequacies of the protection of tangible rights of indigenous peoples (eg indigenous land rights) and that of their intangible rights protection (including IPRs) tend to stem from a common source – the failure to acknowledge the “inherent logic of indigenous peoples’ world views”. Perhaps the solutions lie not just in finding ways to include indigenous IPRs in current IPR regimes, but through the facilitation of an entire paradigm shift to capture the nuances of these issues both effectively and precisely. How, for instance, can indigenous IPRs be valued commercially, and how may adequate compensation models be developed in exchange for the commercial use of these rights? A key to increasing the recognition of the inherent value of indigenous IPRs within their traditional cultural settings may lie in developing methods to properly value this worth in tangible terms. What seems necessary is a model to adequately measure the significance of indigenous IPRs, starting at the source (the indigenous community), and finding ways of translating this value into benefit systems that can be returned to the communities from which the IPRs were sourced. Hence recognition is attributed to the crucial part these IPRs play within the cultures from which they are derived. The strength of intellectual property law lies in its ability to meet the demands of a frenetically changing world, thus affording it vast amounts of power in shaping the law of the future; but this brings with it the

The fashion issue - an examination of the current intellectual property rights within England and Wales and the European community, concerning design infringement and counterfeit goods within the fashion industry: part two

The fashion issue - an examination of the current intellectual property rights within England and Wales and the European community, concerning design infringement and counterfeit goods within the fashion industry: part two

The fashion issue – an examination of the current intellectual property rights within England and Wales and the European Community, concerning design infringement and counterfeit goods within the fashion industry: part one

The copying of fashion and graphic designs has been ongoing for years. More designers are beginning to assert their exclusive rights, granted through the available intellectual property rights. These mainly include design rights and trademarks. It is necessary to see how law of England and Wales can be applied effectively to protect this cyclical and transient industry, and the areas where it may be improved. This will be achieved through an analysis of the recent leading judicial decisions on this area of law, as well as a comparison between the domestic design rights compared to the community design rights. Due to the generality of some of the terms used in the legislation wider reading into other jurisdictions such as the USA and France will provide further insight into how this particular area of law can be improved.