Monthly Archive for August, 2006

Intellectual Property Rights for Financial Services

Published
by
Greg Kirsch
  on  August 31, 2006
  in  Intellectual property
. 1 Comment

There is no form of intellectual property more controversial, nor more often misunderstood, than so-called “business method patents”. While some individuals and companies complain that patent systems were never intended to protect “methods of doing business”, patent applications on these types of inventions continue to be filed in record numbers. Government patent offices continue to issue such patents, with support by judges who interpret the patent law. While the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has perhaps become the most liberal in granting business method patents, Europe (such as by way of the European Patent Office) also allows these types of patents to be granted, if they are deemed to have a “technical effect”. Like most debates, there are plenty of arguments to be made pro and con.

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Euro VCs increasingly interested in Central Europe

Published
by
Steven Carlson
  on  August 10, 2006
  in  Venture capital
. 0 Comments

According to Big Four accounting firm, Deloitte, European VCs are increasingly interested in investing in Central and Eastern European. While Western Europe remains the primary focus, 21% of European investors surveyed expressed an interest in Central European deals, while 14% were keen on investing in Eastern Europe.

Deloiitte’s Global Trends in Venture Capital 2006 survey queried 505 investors around the world on their attitudes and interests regarding specific geographic areas and industry sectors.

The top reasons European VCs favored Central Europe were ‘access to foreign markets’, ‘lower cost locations’ and ‘emergence of entrepreneur environment in non-traditional locations’.