Enrico
In his refreshing, entertaining and interesting view about the IP situation given at the speech for the 4 International IP awards in Venice, Professor Joseph Strauss (Director of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property in Munich) made a clear statement: the IP situation is becoming increasingly difficult and in the foreseeable future emerging countries like China, India, Russia, East Europe and Latin America will be adding more and more pressure on IP pubblic offices. Today the backlog for patent application has reached an incredible number: 3 millions (worldwide, whereas the US alone have a ¼ of the entire number, more than 800.000 applications on filing).
What is the current situation? Backlog + increasing number of patent applications = 2 powerful factors that are jeopardising the future of the patenting system.
What is the consequence? Big pressure on patent offices worldwide, on businesses, on courts of justice. This could turn out to be a global warming for the IP world!
Well, this is not exactly what this clever Professor thinks: he describes a couple of reasons why this shouldn’t be the case:
1. Armonisation: it is necessary to coordinate powers and efforts of the IP offices worldwide (Mr. Straus recommends that EPO and Europe in particularly should be at the forefront of this consolidation)
2. Apply the existing rules, but strictly. (You can read this as: the innovative jump of an invention should really be innovative.)
Prof. Joseph Straus was also able to point out the only way we can “manage” the future. In the innovation era, he said, you have to reward only the real innovation!
And we think he’s right.
