Following closely on the heels of the new examiner guidelines, the first annual Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences conference, and a host of other intraoffice changes and proposals, the USPTO recently published a proposal for a new three-track patent filing system, initiating the notice-and-comment process. Essentially, the new three-tier patent filing system would allow certain applicants to receive special status and a quicker application-to-final-judgment pendency, as well as allow others to request slower or low-priority status.

A group of senators want to hand the U.S. Department of Justice the power to shut down Web sites dedicated to the illegal sharing online of film, music, software, and other intellectual property. Under the proposed legislation, the Justice Department would file a civil action against accused pirate domain names. If the domain name resides in the U.S., the attorney general could then request that the court issue an order finding that the domain name in question is dedicated to infringing activities. The Justice Department would have the authority to serve the accused site's U.S.-based registrar with an order to shut down the site. If the bill passes, it could mark the most significant antipiracy victory for the film and music industries in quite awhile.

In the debate over the illegal file sharing of films online, independent filmmakers have largely been forgotten. Independent film producers have now taken to battling illegal file sharing by publicly lashing out at companies, such as Google, that they say profit from the ads posted to sites that traffic in pirated films.

A group representing French Internet-service providers lost a bid to block the implementation of anti-piracy enforcement efforts. The Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative court, ruled yesterday that the request by the French Data Network to intervene in the matter was inadmissible.

China’s General Administration of Press and Publication ordered 15 Chinese video-sharing sites to remove infringing videos and to take a look at copyright issues, a China news website reported. They will have until Sept. 21 to comply with the press supervisory agency’s requests. More than 1,198 infringing websites in China have been shut down since 2005, according to the news website.

The global economic crisis led to a significant drop in patent and trademarks filings in 2008 and particularly in 2009 but there are signs of recovery, according to the World Intellectual Property Indicators 2010 report released today, based on an annual survey of IP offices around the world. China is still showing vigorous growth and demand in intellectual property protection. Starting in 2008, the slowdown affected research and development (R&D), as well as patent and trademark filings, except for in China, Francis Gurry, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said at a press briefing.