Original news and analysis on international IP policy
An expert working group under the auspices of the World Health Organization tasked with finding ways to finance research and development for diseases that disproportionately affect the poor has released its much-anticipated report. The report is available here [pdf]. After…
The Office of the United States Trade Representative released 23 December a report to the US Congress concerning China’s compliance with its obligations under the World Trade Organization. It is available here. The report examines China’s commitments over a list…
Computer technology giant Microsoft has lost an appeal on a patent case that now could see the company withdrawing the current versions of two of its widely-used software programmes from the market. The dispute concerns a computer language for document…
The term of protection on sound recording for performers and producers has been extended in Argentina from 50 to 70 years, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). The extension of the protection was supported by the…
It’s an unconventional use of copyright law. But if Omega SA wins its case before the US Supreme Court, the famous Swiss watch company will have established a powerful new weapon against grey market goods in that country.
US internet search engine company Google was sentenced by a French tribunal to pay a €300,000 euro fine to French publishing company La Martinière on 18 December but plans to appeal, according to sources. According to the judgment posted on…
A balancing of the rights of authors and consumers, the re-introduction of a private copying exception, a remixing permission and a new regulatory agency for copyright issues are among the core points the Brazilian Ministry of Culture has planned for the new copyright law. But at the Third Conference on Copyright and the Public Interest in São Paulo a month ago, the Ministry emphasised that the bits and pieces shown to the audience were not from an actual law draft ("anteprojeto") but only a preliminary proposal for formulating such a draft. The bill still has not been published to date. The delay in releasing the bill for public consultation now threatens the work of more than two years on the reform.
The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Edition features top news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the international IP community, news briefs and more. The December/January edition is now available for subscribers.
Over ninety-five percent of printed works are in formats inaccessible to people with visual impairments, representatives of the visually impaired said last week at the World Intellectual Property Organization. An agreement to allow exceptions in copyright law, they argued, could address this "book famine" by removing copyright restrictions on translation of works into accessible formats and on sharing of these translations across national boundaries.
The World Trade Organization’s dispute-settling Appellate Body has issued its report on a complaint made by the United States against China on “Measures Affecting Trading Rights and Distribution Services for Certain Publications and Audiovisual Entertainment Products.” The case concerns measures…
The European Union appears to be preparing for adoption of the "gold standard" of enforcement, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), as intellectual property law expert Annette Kur from the Max Planck Institute of Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law said it is now called.
Intellectual property related to geographically-specific products can be harnessed for development purposes, argued panellists at a recent event in Geneva. But there are specific challenges related to using such tools in the developing world that must also be addressed.