Supreme Court Rulings and patent reform are making it harder to defend patents in the US – and biotechs are falling back on trade secrets to protect their IP.

Brussels is abuzz with speculation that Europe’s fragmented, costly and complex patent regime is about to reform – aided by advances in machine translation. But support is not unanimous.

Alternative Dispute Resolution can help keep litigation costs down and reach a speedy conclusion to a dispute.

On current growth rates China will overtake the US to become the world’s largest patent filing jurisdiction by 2012, according to market analysts Evalueserve.

The State Intellectual Property Office of China has launched a free online machine translation service for patent information searchers.

The European Society of Human Genetics wants to ban the patenting of genes and DNA sequences but allow patents on genetic tests.

The UK has launched a new free searchable database for published patents data, allowing users to search and download published patent information, on-line, free of charge.

Small is beautiful: patent applications are continuing to rise, but the European Patent Office is pleased that the number it grants is falling.

A common format for filing patent applications to the European, Japanese and US patent offices will be introduced at the beginning of next year.

Valerie Pécresse, Research and Higher Education minister, reveals her agenda to Science|Business.