After generations of division and conflict, the EU has been
peacefully creating a united and free Europe over the last 50 years. During
that half-century, a very diverse set of countries joined the Union. In fact,
the EU has developed gradually to what it is today through enlargement. In new
circumstances, such as after the collapse of communism, the EU has proved to be
a stabilising power, which uses enlargement as a powerful policy tool. The
gravitational pull of the EU has helped transform Central and Eastern Europe
into modern, well-functioning democracies. ...
The European Court of Auditors (ECA), an EU institution created in
1977 and based in Luxembourg, is mandated by the Treaty to audit all of the
community’s revenues and expenditures and to examine its legality,
regularity and assess the soundness of its financial management...
While the past two articles of this series have dealt with the
definition of patent values (see IPR-Helpdesk Bulletin N°30) and with the
reasons for patent valuation (see IPR-Helpdesk Bulletin N°32), this article
will briefly describe the main valuation approaches and discuss their
suitability for patent valuation. ...
Standards have an impact on almost all
areas of our lives. They are distillations of knowledge and know-how
contributed and refined by the parties with a stake in their implementation.
With this background, it is not surprising that standards can raise issues
related to intellectual property. This article provides an introduction to
...
Intellectual property (IP) can be seen from several perspectives
(cultural, business, legal, financial, etc.). One possible way to define
intellectual property is to use the concept that has been accepted by the 184
members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). According to
article 2 (viii) of the Convention Establishing...
An empty KiteKat cat food tin inside a coffee tin, a hairdryer, and
a pair of kitchen scales. Those things are behind one of the most successful
inventions of the 20th century. The
British inventor Christopher Cockerell invented the first hovercraft during
kitchen experiments in 1952. He noticed that when he placed a smaller can into
...
The following text describes an innovation that has the potential to
change millions of lives. “Imagine waking up long before sunrise and
then walking for more than two hours to the nearest river or borehole and then
carrying a bucket full of water on your head all the way home - every day for
the rest of your life. This hell-on-earth...
Often used to illustrate the craziness of the patent world, funny
patents represent a very small part of the inventions for which a patent has
been applied. Nevertheless, these examples show that there are still some
poorly informed inventors who spend money to protect innovations that, in most
cases, will never make their way to the...
Since the beginning of a collaborative project within the framework
of FP7, all partners should think about the future exploitation of the results
generated by such a project. In this respect, it is useful to think over a
detailed preliminary exploitation scheme for the results of the project, which
will also serve as a guarantee of...
