Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A European Commission-backed project to identify copyright holders and define orphan works - whose copyright owners cannot be found - recently presented its results and is heading to a second phase with more partners. The project advances the European effort at digitalising content through the Europeana project, a competing project to the Google Books project.
A hundred years ago, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and his student Gilles Holst discovered a property that was to launch decades of fervent research to understand the phenomenon: Superconductivity. Today, researchers are still trying to find ways to use this remarkable property, but are celebrating the centenary of its discovery.
The secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity announced on 7 April that two more countries have ratified the Nagoya Protocol.
The search for innovative solutions to engage research and development of health products for diseases that particularly affect developing countries is the core mission of a World Health Organization working group that met this week in a special mostly open session. The group of experts will assess proposals and deliver its recommendations next year.
A new study has recommended changes at the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in Geneva, which is seen as having an enormous impact on global agricultural research. Separately, World Trade Organization members recently discussed the trade impact of private standards for food.
The Medicines Patent Pool, an initiative aiming at increasing access to HIV drugs through voluntary licences of patented drugs, has launched a new database of patent information on HIV medicines.
A recent European Parliament resolution on a European Financial Transaction Tax could represent an important resource for a WHO-led initiative to find sustainable financing for research into diseases afflicting poor populations.
International trademark applications are on the rise, reflecting economic recovery, as are industrial design applications, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization. However, the WIPO system for registering industrial design applications, though showing strong growth, still involves a limited number of countries, according to WIPO’s director general.
Internet giant Google today announced it is taking an "if-you-can't-beat-'em, join 'em" attitude on patents and innovation by moving defensively to boost its patent portfolio.
Governments meeting last week to discuss a possible new treaty on industrial design harmonisation snagged slightly at the end over how to chart a course to a treaty negotiation, but otherwise reported a smooth week of talks. Officials also agreed to plan a meeting on internet service provider liability.
In yet another sign that this day is full of surprises, the Free Software Foundation Europe has announced that it is offering a special cutting-edge "analogue printer" device, which can print any colour, 3D, underwater, and all file formats.
In a surprise and fully uncorroborated development, it appears that World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry has been named a new contributor to an illustrious IP blog. The announcement came at the same time as news that WIPO will likely embark on wishing for an annual crackdown list of global IP blogs deemed to be inadequately living up to the highest levels of intellectual property protection and decorum.