Charles Goldfinger

The notorious MP3 site AllofMP3.com is still functioning – despite the US–Russian agreement on intellectual property.

In the recent history of Intellectual Property, the case of MP3 and Fraunhoffer Society, prestigious German research organisation, is a stuff of legend.

Earlier this week, Ocean Tomo launched an Intellectual Property index for the US market. The index only covers US stocks – and it would be interesting to think about constructing a similar index for the UK market.

Faciulitating and accelerating communications between scientists, academics and assorted researchers was one of the original factors behind the creation and development of the Internet.

On Tuesday, October 24, IBM filed in Texas federal court two suits for patent infringement against Amazon Inc. While details of five patents were not disclosed, one patent attracted particular interest: Patent US 5,319,542 - Ordering Items Using an Electronic Catalogue. Is it possible that IBM challenges the famous “one-click order” patent of Amazon? In any case, if the suit comes to trial, it will provide an opportunity to test not only the validity of this particular patent, but more generally of “business methods” patents, which have been highly controversial.

In my August 16 blog, I discussed the European challenge to Google Library project. I was sceptical about the chances of its success. Recent declarations of the French National Library director, Jean-Noel Jeanneney, the main promoter of the project, only reinforce my scepticism. According to Mr. Jeanneney, the project will be most probably called Europeana, to reflect its Greek-Latin lineage.

On October 22, Japan’s Supreme Court struck a blow for employees of major corporations, who make valuable inventions.

A few weeks ago, we commented on the Russian Parliament's approval of new intellectual property laws. Our comment was somewhat sceptical, given the lack of legal tradition of IP enforcement in Russia. As the scepticism seemed quite widely shared, it was only a matter of time before those who lobbied for better IP protection would test the new framework.

In its last issue, the Economist presents a survey on talent and the difficulties of finding and keeping it. As usual, it is an instructive and stimulating piece. In my case, it stimulated my thoughts about the relationships between talent and intellectual property (IP).

These days, Big Pharma does not appear to have many friends. The market performance of many big pharmaceutical companies has been middling, as the sector’s competitive position is perceived to be under several threats. The drug pipeline appears to be drying up and geared more toward lifestyle enhancement than life savings. Costly and reputation-damaging liability suits are proliferating. Pricing pressures are relentless. They come from pressure groups such as AIDS patients; but they are reinforced by public authorities, not only in the developing world but also in the US and in Europe, as governments seek to slow down the relentless progress of health expenditures.