Everyone’s strapped for cash – except pharma. But the latest spending spree is no more of a fix for expiring patents than botox is for ageing skin, writes Nuala Moran.

The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has ratified the European Patent Convention and, on 1 January, became a member of the European Patent Organisation (EPO).

Depending who you ask, the long-awaited and final ruling on the University of Wisconsin’s WARF patent is either a landmark decision or signifies nothing.

The Commission and the European Patent office are taking action to eradicate underhand tactics for keeping generic drugs off the market.

David Alcock of the Patent Attorneys D Young & Co addresses concerns that a recent patent judgment undermines the concept of evergreening, even though Tate & Lyle’s US patents to Sucralose are valid.

The world’s five major patent offices are to join forces to banish duplication, make examination procedures more efficient and improve international patent rights.

The long-running row over software patenting has finally been referred to the highest appeals body of the European Patent Office.

The US and European patent offices have launched a trial of the Patent Prosecution Highway, a scheme they say will speed up the granting of patents.

The UK High Court issued its judgment Eli Lilly & Co v Human Genome Sciences Inc, the first UK case to decide the validity of a gene sequence patent discovered through bioinformatics.

Increased patent filings China, South Korea and the US drove growth in worldwide filing of patent applications to 1.76 million in 2006 a 4.9 percent increase over 2005.