Today is World Intellectual Property Day and Thomson Reuters is proud to partner with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to launch a program giving industrial property offices (responsible for intellectual property and copyright) and government and academic researchers in developing countries free access to global patent information.
The goals of World IP Day are to raise awareness for how patents, copyrights, trademarks and designs impact daily life; increase understanding of how protecting IP rights helps promote creativity and innovation; celebrate creativity and the contribution made by creators and innovators to the development of societies; and, encourage respect for the IP rights of others.
Our hope is that free access to scientific and technical knowledge, in particular knowledge in patents, fosters global innovation by enabling the development of solutions to the world’s technical challenges.
“The theme of this year’s World IP Day, “Innovation – Linking the World,” reflects the goal of this new program which aims to provide access for developing and least-developed countries to technical information found in patent databases”, said Yo Takagi, assistant director general, Global Infrastructure Sector, World Intellectual Property Organization “These databases offer sophisticated search and analysis tools as well as a wide range of other value-added features. Allowing developing and least-developed countries to more fully exploit their creative potential through the effective use of technical information found in these specialized patent databases will further link these countries into the global knowledge economy and foster the development of new solutions to technical challenges faced on a local and global level.”
Read the news release for more information on the program that WIPO and Thomson Reuters will be working together on.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have partnered to offer a Master of Intellectual Property Law program in Australia, beginning in February 2010. The program is the first of its kind to be offered in the Asia-Pacific region.
From left to right: Andrew O'Brien (Regional Sales Mgr., Thomson Reuters), Philip Noonan (Dir. General, IP Australia), Brian Fitzgerald (Prof. of IP Property & Innovation, QUT), The Hon. Michael Lavarch (Exec. Dean, Faculty of Law, QUT), Kamal Puri (Prof. of IP Law & Program Director, WIPO-QUT Master of IP Law), Steve Thom (Senior Advisor, Office of the Director General, WIPO), Dr. Francis Gurry (Dir. General, WIPO), Jeff Roberts (Asst. Director, International Cooperation, IP Australia).
Thomson Reuters will support the innovative program by providing the university with access to its industry-leading patent research and analysis solution, Thomson Innovation. With the program placing special emphasis on IP matters specific to the Asia-Pacific region, the comprehensive Asia-Pacific patent coverage in Thomson Innovation will be useful for students. The aim is to provide future IP law professionals with the necessary tools to succeed in their courses and become acclimated to products that will help them flourish in their careers.
Thomson Innovation provides full-text English translations of Japanese and Korean patent data, English translations of the titles, abstracts and claims for Chinese data, as well as editorially enhanced, English-language abstracts of patents from Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand , the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan.
Green is popular. While consumers are voicing their great concern for our planet, the business world is looking for strategies to respond appropriately to the eco trend and to create new opportunities. The growing popularity of green products has led to a global increase in the number of trademarks that have been applied for that have terms like ‘green’, ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ in their name.
Is green the color of brands in the future as well as the color of money for those brands to survive in today’s economic climate? The lack of legal standards or a public consensus about what ‘green’ exactly includes, is one of the big challenges of ‘green marketing’. But there is much more legal specialists and companies must be aware of when launching a ‘green’ brand.
Explore this issue further in an insightful article written by Katrina Burchell, head of the Trade Marks department and Global Category Counsel for Skin products at Unilever. Her research into the importance and the impact of ‘green’ brands offer specialists and legal services guidelines when applying for trademarks, and help them to avoid legal traps. Thomson CompuMark contributed to this study by helping to uncover some remarkable trademark registration trends.
David Brown, president of Thomson Reuters IP Solutions, took a few moments out on his recent trip to Beijing to share his thoughts on global growth in the patent and trademark industry. In this podcast, he discusses how law firms are capitalizing on these growth opportunities, especially in China and Korea, to develop new clients and retain market share, and how Thomson Reuters is supporting the patents and trademark business through the new combined offering of Westlaw Patents + Thomson Innovation.
On April 17, we celebrated the first year anniversary of Thomson acquiring Reuters, and the launch of the Thomson Reuters brand.
In the last year, Thomson Reuters has been named the 44th Best Global Brand by Business Week, and we now rank as No. 290 on Forbes Global 2000, an annual ranking of the top 2,000 public companies in the world.
In this video, Peter Warwick, president and CEO, Thomson Reuters, Legal, and members of his executive team talk about what we’ve achieved in the business in the last year, and what opportunities lie ahead.
