Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Swiss Supreme Court Forbids Rights Holders’ Access to Personal IP Addresses
The Swiss Federal Supreme Court took a decision on 8 September preventing the collection of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses by private companies.
Copyright and patent laws "are often misused" for reasons that have "more to do with limiting competition and preventing consumers from making innovative uses of their products" than they do with stopping piracy, global consumer advocacy group Consumers International plans to tell a UN internet meeting today. Such misuse includes limitations on the use of third-party content on devices such as the iPhone, and regional codes that prevent consumers from playing DVDs bought legally abroad in a consumer's home country.
The UN Human Rights Council opened yesterday morning, with its session planned to run until 1 October. Several new reports that touch on issues of innovation and indigenous protection are expected to be presented. The Working Group on the Right…
Intellectual Property Watch Editor William New this week is chairing an IP Law Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada (US), being held from 12-14 September. The event is addressing latest issues at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), prospects…
Some African nations signed a protocol on the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore at the beginning of August gaining the praise of the World Intellectual Property Organization. However, a United Nations report launched in January warned against the application of western legal and economic principles to collectively owned knowledge in traditional communities.
A coalition of some two dozen non-governmental organisations yesterday sent a letter to the United States Trade Representative raising concern about the impact on access to medicines of intellectual property provisions in a regional, Asia-Pacific trade agreement, known as the…
The European Commission has launched its survey on intellectual property protection and enforcement in third countries. The survey is open until 31 October. Every two years the Commission conducts “a broad IPR enforcement survey,” that will serve, with other input,…
European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht today told the plenary of the European Parliament in Strasbourg that it has become clear the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) could only be concluded by sticking to a minimum consensus. But this might result…
Everyone you ask this week about the Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement (ACTA) tells you that they’re just about to work their way through the new draft version to understand the implications of changes made during the recent negotiation round in Washington, DC. Massive changes to the text have been revealed by yet another leak of the draft treaty text being negotiated by 10 countries and the EU 27 member states.
European and Indian business not only have privileged access to information on the planned EU-India free trade agreement, they even set the agenda for this negotiation from the start. That is the conclusion of a study by the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and India FDI Watch published this week in Brussels and Delhi. Both organisations intend to appeal directly to the European Commission and the Indian government to stop negotiations as long as there is no access to negotiating positions and documents for all affected parties.
In between climate change conferences, Christiana Figueres, newly appointed executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), was in Geneva yesterday to attend a ministerial meeting convened by the Swiss and Mexican governments on climate change finance.
Developed countries are looking for ways to address the ongoing lack of intellectual property enforcement and efforts to bypass international trade obligations in the four biggest emerging global economies, as well as emulation of this behaviour by other emerging economies in particular as the four countries have a stronger voice in international fora, a panel of United States trade experts said this week.