Maria Pallante out of Copyright. Unified IP?

Maria Pallante: out of Copyright Office

Great article by Dennis Crouch over at Patently-O. (But then aren't they all great over there.)

Apparently Pallante is out as Chief of the Copyright office. And the clamor is up as to why we don't have a unified IP at the patent and trademark office, kind of a US PTOC. (I guess that would be pronounced Pea-Talk, or PeeTalk, if you wanted to talk dirty.)

Back in 2012, Crouch recommended creating an integrated US Intellectual Property Organization, or USIPO (you sip oh) akin to WIPO for the world of IP.

The argument for an integrated IP approach "...  is that many operating businesses relying upon intellectual property (IP) rights typically do not focus on a single form of IP rights but instead take a layered approach that includes some combination of patent, trademark, copyright, contractual, employment, trade secret, and design rights, for instance."

With all the changes happening, or potentially happening, in the IP world this integration seems like a great idea when the time has come.

Let's go with USIPO, not PTOC, on this one.

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Stronger Chinese Patent Laws Also Help U.S. Companies - WSJ

Stronger Chinese Patent Laws Also Help U.S. Companies - WSJ:

China is blasting past the USA in the patent world. They have already been the most busy patent office in the world for several years.

But now they are the office with the most issued patents: 359,000 issues, up 45% from 2014. WoW!

And we, in the USA are down 1% to below 300k.

Interesting that they pay up to $4,500 (30,000 yuan) for patents. That's probably more than full reimbursement for the full patent costs in China. People could make money by taking patent applications elsewhere (non PCT) and file them in China. And, that's apparently what people did. It seems that the motive to get paid the government subsidies for issued patents would incentivate a nice bribery market.

China first stepped into the world of intellectual property in 1985 when joining the World Trade Organization.

Many foreign companies are able to sue, successfully, in China. But, of course, they would only sue once they knew they have a clear-cut case and inspected the political landscape.

I still think that part of the massive move to China for IP is to help cut off the infringers at both ends of the product pirating pipeline from China to USA/EU/Japan: manufacture, distributor/exporter, retailer, and seller.

"Serious obstacles" of IP in China for foreign companies by the State Department is, by all measures an understatement. However, there seems to be progress.

Note that this article is more complete than the one printed in the paper.

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