The Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014, which is published today, will enhance the immunity from patent infringement for companies involved in testing generic versions of drugs while the original drugs continue to enjoy patent protection. A case in 1984 in the United States resulted in legislation allowing for the Bolar Exemption, which allows companies to use patent-protected drugs in tests to develop […]
What’s the difference between a trademark and a patent? What about copyright versus design? The OHIM (Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market) which is the trademarks and designs registry for the European Union, has released a nice graphic to help make sense of the various types of intellectual property rights and how you can […]
Digital Rights Ireland is a voluntary organisation campaigning for Digital Rights in Ireland and Europe, in particular in the areas of Digital Privacy, Web Blocking and Copyright Reform. It has had some notable success in 2013, in particular on the EU Data Retention Directive, but following a failed submission to the court in a web-blocking […]
Over the last few days we’ve published video from the public forum on the report of the Copyright Review Comittee, held this week at the Royal Irish Academy. We deliberately refrained from filming the audience Q&A as some people might not have been comfortable with that, but afterwards we spoke to one of those who […]
Patricia McGovern takes up the baton from Eoin O’Dell, as they present the report of the Copyright Review Committee last Monday at the Royal Irish Academy. Ms McGovern discusses the committee’s recommendations for the Controller of Intellectual Property, and for Intellectual Property tracks in the District and Circuit Courts. She outlines the recommended measures relating […]
It was barely promoted; indeed it was hardly mentioned since the Copyright Review Committee Report was announced over two months ago. But the Public Forum on the Report, to be held next Monday at 5pm at the Royal Irish Academy, is all booked out. The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation have confirmed to technology.ie that […]
The final report of the independent Copyright Review Committee has just been published. The report is aimed at identifying barriers for innovation in the digital environment, and developing proposals for reducing them in order to provide greater support for growth and jobs in the digital industry. The publication has been welcomed by the Minister for […]
The Irish ISP association (hotline.ie) wrote to Mr Richard Bruton, Minister of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation last month about the newspaper copyright debacle. They finally got a “reply” but it doesn’t really address their concerns- if anything it just punts the issue to the copyright review. You can download the hotline.ie’s original letter here and the […]
We’ve talked about the digital copyright debacle several times over the past couple of months. With the signing into law of the copyright SI last week some may have felt that the story was over, but in many respects it’s only the end of a chapter. There is now an open consultation on the subject. […]
