Recently in international Category

Already a major force in the economy, worth over £52 billion a year, the digital and communication sectors are growing in significance as the country faces up to current financial and market challenges. Vital to underpinning global economic activity, they are critical to every business in our economy, acting both as a catalyst for creativity and allowing efficiency gains. And they have a major impact on our culture and quality of life.

Washington Post staff writer Brian Krebs has published an insightful report on the attempt by the U.S. state of Kentucky to seize international domain names belonging to overseas Internet gambling companies.

An effort by the state of Kentucky to seize more than 140 online gambling Web site names is raising novel legal questions about the physical location of digital property and the reach of local and regional governments on the global Internet.

By Ibtisam Awadat -

AMMAN - The power of ideas as the seedbed for innovation and creativity is the theme of this year’s World Intellectual Property (IP) Day. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) commemorates this Day on April 26 on annual basis. On this occasion, ag-IP-news Agency has requested some IP experts from different regions in the world for their comments on the status provided for intellectual property rights protection.

Open Letter Urges Ambassador Portman to Block Efforts to Amend WTO's TRIPS Over 'Biopiracy'

WASHINGTON, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- USA For Innovation today urged in an open letter to Ambassador Rob Portman that USTR spearhead a serious effort to stop attacks by Brazil and India on intellectual property (IP) rights as their current practices severely damage the economic welfare and security of the United States.

Company to Institute European Licensing Program Based on Growing Intellectual Property Portfolio

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 2005--SigmaTel Inc. (NASDAQ:SGTL - News), a leader in mixed-signal multimedia semiconductors, today announced the establishment of a European Intellectual Property (IP) protection and licensing strategy. Similar to SigmaTel's ongoing IP strategy in the United States, the European licensing program will initially focus on the protection and enforcement of 19 patents related to power management, multimedia applications and MP3 hardware and software. The European licensing program will encompass current SigmaTel customers, who have an implied license when they purchase SigmaTel products, as well as other MP3 manufactures and MP3 semiconductor developers who may include SigmaTel intellectual property in their product designs.

LYON, France, Nov 15 (AFP) - The second global congress on the fight against intellectual property theft concluded here Tuesday with a call for greater awareness of the lucrative international crime.

"The pirates are gaining ground," said James Chandler, president of the Washington-based National Intellectual Property Law Institute, adding that the crime was growing exponentially in terms of size and sophistication.

To read the entire article click here.

Japan, Switzerland also submitting requests on China's enforcement efforts

The United States has initiated a special process under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules to obtain information on China's intellectual property enforcement efforts, according to an announcement made in Geneva October 26 by U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Rob Portman.

"The United States is deeply concerned by the violations of intellectual property rights in China," Portman said. "Based on all available information, piracy and counterfeiting remain rampant in China despite years of engagement on this issue."

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Randolph Hobson Guthrie III was arraigned in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Mississippi on charges resulting from the first joint United States-China intellectual property criminal investigation, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today.

Guthrie, 38, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in Shanghai last July and was brought to the United States earlier this month. A bond hearing was held in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California after which Guthrie was released on a secured $1 million bond. His release was further conditioned upon surrendering his passport and submitting to home confinement with electronic monitoring. Guthrie was ordered to appear in federal court in Mississippi to face the charges in the criminal indictment.