Posts in Holiday Posts

World IP Day 2022 Emphasizes Youth Contributions to IP

It is once again World IP Day, on which the global intellectual property (IP) community celebrates IP and innovation, as well as the day that the Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) came into force (April 26, 1970). World IP Day was first observed in 2000 in an effort by WIPO to raise awareness of the importance IP plays in fostering innovation and creativity. This year, WIPO has chosen to focus on the theme of “IP and Youth: Innovating for a Better Future,” spotlighting young entrepreneurs and innovators across the globe. There’s a youth video competition, a World IP Day Youth Gallery, and dozens of events taking place worldwide throughout the week.

mRNA IP and Competitive Landscape: 2021 in Review – Part II, Sanofi, Startups, Conclusions and Outlook

This article, originally published on 12/27/2021, was updated on 1/12/2022 and republished on 1/13/2022 to include information that was omitted in error, beginning after “Conclusions and Outlook”.

In Part I of this post, we provided an update on three lead pioneers in the mRNA IP space, Moderna, BioNTech and CureVac. In this post we profile Sanofi, Arcturus, eTheRNA and other mRNA companies and offer conclusions. Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY), headquartered in Paris, FR, acquired mRNA pioneer Translate Bio in September 2021 for approximately $3.2 billion and mRNA startup Tidal Therapeutics in April 2021 for approximately $470 million. With its acquisition of Translate alone, Sanofi obtained an mRNA pipeline of nine candidates (two in the clinic), hundreds of patents, and undoubtedly valuable mRNA-based technical and regulatory know-how.

The Road Ahead: Predicting IP Developments to Watch in 2022

Once again, this year we asked a selection of IP stakeholders to weigh in on what important IP events they see unfolding in the year ahead. While crystal balls were not required, respondents were encouraged to take their best educated guesses about what the future holds for IP in 2022. From the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the Supreme Court to the International Trade Commission (ITC), there is a lot to keep on our radar. Here is what our contributors had to say.

Only in Your Dreams: Patent Stakeholders Share Their IP Wishes for the New Year

It’s New Year’s Day 2022, and as we do each year at this time, we asked our readers to weigh in on their “wildest dreams” for IP in the upcoming year (though I tend to agree with one commenter below who said, “I don’t dream about IP…if you do, seek immediate professional help.”) Responses this year ranged from the practical (that Kathi Vidal and Leonard Stark will be confirmed to their respective nominations) to the fantastical (the invention of a teleporting machine) – and we even got a poetry submission! Read on for more of our readers’ wildest IP dreams, and Happy New Year!

The Top 10 Patents of 2021: Improved Eye Contact in Video Calls, Targeted Ads Based on Conversation Samples, and Analyzing Toxicity in Social Media Content

With the close of another year upon us, IPWatchdog is returning to an annual feature with its Top 10 list of issued U.S. patents during 2021. While it’s impossible to produce a definitive list of the ten most important patents in terms of future commercialization, the following list reflects a series of innovations that either represent important advances in burgeoning areas of technology, or practical innovations that address many of the recurring problems that our world has been facing during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. From reducing the awkward nature of Zoom calls, during which it’s impossible to maintain genuine eye contact, to vehicle technologies using Bayesian inference models to predict the lane change behavior of nearby drivers, these patents offer an expansive view of the exciting state of invention during this early stage of the 2020s.

The IP Developments that Mattered: Insiders Shed Light on the Headlines of 2021

The new year is just a few days away, and it is once again time to ponder the biggest moments and events in the world of intellectual property from the previous 12 months. As we do every year, we asked a panel of industry experts for their insights for our Biggest Moments in IP series, which is the longest running series on IPWatchdog.com. This year, while the role of IP and innovation in the COVID-19 pandemic continued to make the cut, other top picks included the Google v. Oracle Supreme Court copyright decision, the Biden Administration’s support for a waiver of IP rights under the Agreement of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for COVID-related technologies, and the administration’s draft language on a new policy statement relating to standard essential patents (SEPs). Here are what this year’s panel of experts identified as the biggest moments in IP for 2021.