Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The US Supreme Court yesterday let stand an important appellate court ruling on copyright law, giving a boost to artists who repurpose others’ works and to supporters of fair use rights. This decision, however, upset many copyright owners, who fear it will allow their works to be used without payment and without their consent.
An event being held in Durban, South Africa next week will bring the expertise of global and local businesses, governments, academics and others to the issues of harnessing foreign intellectual property rights as well as creating local IP rights.
Nearly 40 US civil society groups - including some household names in consumer protection - today sent a letter to the heads of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) demanding to know if their activities related to US trade policy have been spied on. The groups said core American principles are at stake and that they have a right to the assurance that their operations are not under surveillance by US government agencies.
This article provides an update on recent changes in the copyright legislative and regulatory framework in Russia, in particular, following up on the first decisions enforcing the recently introduced law against online video piracy and the announcement of the establishment of the new federal authority for copyright.
US Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner at a hearing today of the European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Committee on mass surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence services asked the EU politicians "to work pragmatically with the United States to continue balanced efforts to protection our nations" and "rebuild trust while defending civil liberties and national security on both sides of the Atlantic."
There appears to be consensus at the World Intellectual Property Organization on establishing a procedural treaty to facilitate the international registration of industrial designs. But a weeklong committee meeting last week could not solve the issue of how to include technical assistance in the treaty. The WIPO General Assembly in December will decide on whether to convene a high-level meeting next year to finalise the treaty. Meanwhile, the United States proposed resuscitating discussions on geographical indications (GIs) in the committee, which stirred resistance.
The United States today lost its right to vote in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) General Conference for failing to pay its dues. The US withheld its dues after UNESCO members voted to grant Palestinian membership in 2011. The US has legislation against Palestinian membership as a state in organisations.
Seong-Joon Park is the director general of the Trademark & Design Examination Bureau at the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). He sat down this week with Intellectual Property Watch to present TM5, a joint global initiative on trademark and design with four other IP-intensive offices, and his vision for trademark and designs in South Korea. As part of the initiative, KIPO is holding a weeklong series of events on trademark and designs in December.
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) today issued a warning about the rise of Rockstar, a consortium of large companies such as Microsoft, Apple and Sony, formed to assert former Nortel patents. The consortium recently sued Google and other companies for infringement of several of those patents.
A US Chamber of Commerce Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) event tomorrow will include efforts to bring industry forces closer together to get congressional support for the nearly completed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and for proposed legislation on patent litigation.
Cypto-guru Bruce Schneier, who has analysed thousands of documents provided by Edward Snowden on the secret surveillance programmes of the US National Security Agency, has called on the technical community to add encryption to the network and also come up with a new model for internet governance.
Years-old efforts by members of the World Health Organization to come up with viable ways to boost research and development of medical products for diseases primarily affecting poor populations are coming to head, with a key meeting in December. That meeting of experts will be an opportunity to narrow down proposals being developed by the six WHO regional offices.