Julian Assange, embattled founder of the controversial WikiLeaks website, recently applied to register his name as a trademark.

The U.S. Senate recently began debate on the Patent Reform Act introduced by senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

In a recent speech at a conference hosted by the Faculty of Law at the Queensland University of Technology, Francis Gurry, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, said copyright infrastructure needs to evolve to meet new technological realities.

In a recent open letter addressed to senior U.S. politicians, Douglas Norman, president of the Intellectual Property Owners Association, called for the government to allow the United States Patent and Trademark Office to spend all the fees it collects in 2011.

The International Trademark Association recently announced the release of a special issue of its publication, the Trademark Reporter, in honor of the journal's 100-year anniversary.

At a time when the U.S. president has emphasized the centrality of intellectual property for the American economy, the United States Patent and Trademark Office is struggling with a range of institutional inefficiencies, according to a recent New York Times report.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization, an industry body that represents the interests of a variety of biotechnology institutions, recently called on the U.S. trade representative to push for greater enforcement of intellectual property rights abroad.

The U.S. Senate is set to debate proposed comprehensive patent reform when it returns from recess on February 28.

European pharmaceutical companies have criticized a recent U.S. government proposal to shorten the patent protection term for biologic drugs, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.

In a move that could prove very significant for innovators, the European Parliament recently voted to implement a common patent system for European Union member states.