According to data released in March by the World Intellectual Property Office, WIPO, Huawei, Samsung and Qualcomm retained their positions as the top three filers of international patent applications filed in 2023. Against a backdrop of rising interest rates and economic uncertainty, however, total PCT filings in 2023 were 1.8% lower than in 2022, the first such year-on-year decline in 14 years. In view of comments by WIPO Director General Daren Tang, a return to [...]

A finding of liability for direct patent infringement in the U.S. is typically based on the infringing actions of a single entity, either a natural or legal person. However, under the doctrine of "divided infringement" (sometimes referred to as "joint infringement"), a single entity can perform fewer than every step of a patented method or make use of fewer than every element of a patented system and still be liable for direct infringement. Such [...]

In January 2024, the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) released a robust study to assess the economic impact of counterfeiting in sales and employment in the clothing (including footwear), cosmetics and toys industries. Among the staggering statistics, it highlights that the clothing industry alone suffers an annual loss of almost €12 billion, accounting for 5.2% of the sector's overall turnover. This rises to 8.7% for the toy industry and 4.8% for cosmetics. In the global economy, [...]