At their General Assembly, the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) appointed Daren Tang of Singapore as the new Director General. He will succeed Francis Gurry, who has led the organisation for twelve years. Mr Tang’s six-year term of office will begin on 1 October. With reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, the new Director General emphasised that, more than...

In 2019, 1.2 billion Swiss francs were invested in private and public biotech companies according to the Swiss Biotech Report 2020. Gene therapy, artificial intelligence and the production of advanced biologicals have developed into complementary strengths in the past year. The Swiss biotech ecosystem has become even more diverse, write the authors of the report, while the life sciences branch...

The measures to limit the pandemic are hitting many companies hard: revenue losses, liquidity bottlenecks and short-time working. So ideas are in demand right now, not only to develop crisis-proof business models in the short term, but also to optimally shape the new start post-crisis in the longer term. During this challenging period, the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IGE) is...

In 2019, the number of patent applications originating from Switzerland filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) increased by 3.6% to reach a record high of 8,249 (2018 – 7,961). These figures can be found in the EPO’s Patent Index 2019, published today. The increase in applications from Switzerland last year was more than three times higher than the EU average of 0.9%. In 2019, Switzerland...

Trade marks in Switzerland continue to be popular. More than 17,000 applications for trade marks were received by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) in 2019, which is slightly more than the previous year. There are now more than 500,000 trade marks in force nationally. Applications for design rights, on the other hand, have remained stable, while the number of patent...

On 4 December, start-ups presented their innovations as part of the Boldbrain Startup Challenge in Lugano. First place was awarded to Orchestra, a software start-up. The winners received 40,000 Swiss francs and a scholarship worth 45,000 Swiss francs. 400 people attended the ceremony. The Boldbrain programme supports start-ups in the various stages of developing a business idea. It focuses on...

The Swiss courts regularly deal with cases concerning intellectual property law. The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) has now published statistics on the court rulings.   The figures on IP rights in 2018 show, for example, that the most court decisions by far are made in the area of trade mark law (57%). This is followed by copyright law (27%) and patent law...

“Pharma and medtech innovation in times of societal, technological and regulatory shifts” is the theme of this year’s Medtech & Pharma Platform Annual Conference. The event, which is its sixth anniversary, is taking place from 24 to 25 October in the Congress Center in Basel. The aim of the annual conference is to bring together stakeholders from the life sciences sector to foster...

Industries in Switzerland that make intensive use of intellectual property rights (IPR) contribute significantly to employment and the gross domestic product (GDP). This is the conclusion of a European study that has just been published. The European Patent Office (EPO) and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) have examined the role IP rights play in economic performance,...

On 19 September in Bern, the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) will host a roundtable on “Patenting procedures relating to computer-implemented inventions.” The free seminar will focus on the patentability of software in Europe. Computer programs are, as such, protected under copyright. However, thousands of patents are granted for...