Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Economic Forum annual gathering of private sector leaders today released a "Cyber Resilience Initiative to Safeguard the Digital Environment" that includes a commitment to protect intellectual property rights online.
While most of the 27 member states of the European Union signed the much-debated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) yesterday in Tokyo, joining the United States, Japan and other ACTA partners, hackers brought down the website of the European Parliament, and a key official stepped down. This may be only the beginning of the protests and petitioning.
Two top international organisations in Geneva are working to adapt to trends in global intellectual property systems with an eye toward contributing to a positive economic impact, officials told a private sector conference this week. But they heard a complex message about the role of IP in addressing public policy concerns.
The Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Michel Kazatchkine, announced that he would step down by 16 March in a letter published on the Fund’s website.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) yesterday released a business guide to key intellectual property policy issues worldwide.
In the annual State of Union address last night, US President Obama announced a new Trade Enforcement Unit that includes anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting.
The European Patent Office Economic and Scientific Advisory Board today announced its priorities for research, including patents fees, thickets and quality.
A high-level, highly technical UN meeting that occurs about once every four years at which key decisions are made about wireless communications opened today in Geneva. The meeting comes as devices such as smart phones and tablets are devouring many times more spectrum than mobile phones of the past.
The blog Monday Note has an analysis today on digital piracy in light of the media frenzy over the US Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill last week. The analysis suggests that anti-piracy measures like France's Hadopi are not working, but there is evidence that offering competitive legitimate download sites does work.
French online rights group La Quadrature du Net this week announced an analysis asserting that in more than half of European Union countries, telecommunications operators engage in "illegitimate" restrictions of their users' access.
Industry profits from digital music are on the rise as industry-owned music download services expand and gain acceptance, anti-piracy efforts take hold in some countries, and internet intermediaries join in, music industry representatives said today.
The World Health Organization Executive Board today is being asked to approve a draft chair's summary of this week's Board discussions on the path to sweeping reform of the UN agency. But the document is unusual, according to some observers, in that it addresses major changes without being considered a negotiation or decision. [Update: this draft was approved by the Board with only the change of deadline for comments to 17 February.]