Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch LONDON – Increasing consumer demand for accessing online content anytime, anywhere is politicizing copyright, speakers said last week at the Digital Hollywood Europe conference here. Frustration over restrictive and incompatible digital rights management…
By Molly Torsen A more and more robust literature on traditional cultural expressions is being written, discussed and even filtered into legislation. Most academic thinking on the topic agrees that Western intellectual property (IP) laws do not offer adequate or…
By William New
Technology companies have long recognised the importance to their economic growth of patents and standards, but increasingly they are focusing on the intersection of the two in order to seek changes to the patent system, industry experts told an event at the World Intellectual Property Organization on 29 November.
The presenters were Tim Frain, director of IPR in the regulatory affairs department of Nokia Corporation, and Paul Davey, director of intellectual property at the Vodafone Group.
Both industry representatives encouraged government officials in the audience to consider legislative remedies to problems they perceive in patents interfering with standards related to technological innovation.
Davey and Frain discussed concerns that some holding licenses for technology may not be willing to recognise the need for access to standard-related patents in order to ensure the interoperability of technologies. Frain argued that the current patent regime "may no longer be sufficient," and suggested a legislative change might be necessary.
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen While the music industry said it is a “big disappointment” that the United Kingdom will not extend copyright protection to sound recordings beyond its current 50 years as stated in a leaked section of a…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen At a Tokyo meeting last week of the developed countries of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the issue of patent harmonisation was kept alive though no specific decisions were reached, a source said. Kenichiro…
Par Martin Vaughan pour Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON DC – La nouvelle majorité démocrate à la Chambre des représentants et au Sénat des États-Unis pose de nouveaux obstacles aux accords commerciaux de l’administration Bush. Toutefois, les observateurs et les responsables…
Por Martin Vaughan para Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON, DC – Las nuevas mayorías demócratas del Senado y la Cámara de Representantes de los Estados Unidos constituyen nuevos obstáculos frente a las iniciativas comerciales de la Administración Bush. Pero, según encargados…
By Pedro Paranaguá. The traditional business model of the phonographic industry is being left behind by the competitiveness of new technologies. The technological world is evolving, but some businesses are struggling as they are not adapting themselves to the ever-increasing…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The biotechnology industry has proposed to change the international generic naming of medicine ingredients, which at the moment are public property, into unique names for each medicine, making it harder to substitute them with cheaper…
By William New In its bilateral negotiation with the United States in order to join the World Trade Organization, Russia appears to have agreed to intellectual property rights standards that push those of the WTO and US law to new…
By Martin Vaughan for Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON, DC – The new Democratic Party majorities in the United States Senate and House of Representatives pose new obstacles for Bush administration trade initiatives. But they are not likely in the short-term…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch In the second week of December, the European Parliament will hear the first reading of the “modernised” Television Without Frontiers Directive (TVWF) that will stretch into the world of online content – hence…