Year 2014

UPOV To Examine ARIPO Legislation On Plant Variety Protection

Several committees of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) will meet this week. One of them is called to assess a draft legal framework on plant variety protection from the African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO). The draft legislation has drawn ire from civil society who charge that it is detrimental to small farmers and who argue that ARIPO does not have legitimacy to become a UPOV member.

EU Data Retention Directive Declared In Violation Of EU Law

European data retention has to be rolled back after a clear judgment of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg today.

The highest EU Court ruled that the directive which obliges telecommunication providers to collect and store communication traffic and location data for up to 2 years, depending on the implementation in the member states, is invalid.

Global Fund And Tiered Medicines Pricing Under Debate

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has launched an initiative with other agencies aimed at expanding global access to health products such as medicines. But the Fund has had some explaining to do about the initiative, which some say could encompass a plan to allow different prices based on national income levels.

2014 LES International Conference In Moscow

The 2014 LES International Conference “Make the World Better through Licensing” will be held on 18-21 May in Moscow at The World Trade Center Moscow. It will be a unique IP event combining both a professionally interesting and productive program and the richest social entertainment, according to the organisers.

Among the participants are: Russian & foreign businessmen, financial officers, investors, scientists, patent & trademark attorneys and lawyers. The conference program will include six general sessions and 23 workshops. Both Russian and International experts will cover most current IP and related issues such as: BRICS & CIS countries as Emerging Markets; International Access to Technologies; Business & Legal Aspects of IP; IP in healthcare/biotechnology, aerospace, car industry, green technology, power engineering, sport, information technologies.

Confirmed speakers are from: Russian Innovation Center “Skolkovo”, Johnson & Johnson, Canon, L’Oreal, Tatneft, Sony Europe, Siemens AG, Porsche AG, LG Chemical, Philips, Novartis, TATA Technologies, GlaxoSmithKline, Boeing, Yandex and many others.

For more information and to register visit http://les2014.org/

University Of Geneva Internet L@w Summer School In June

The University of Geneva is launching an Internet l@w summer school which will take place from June 16 to June 27, 2014.

The Internet l@w summer school offers the opportunity to learn and discuss internet law and policies with experts from leading institutions including the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, the Internet Society, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as from other prestigious academic or governmental institutions and global internet companies (eBay and Google).

Topics to be covered include privacy and surveillance, free speech, telecom and internet infrastructure, intellectual property, antitrust, choice of court & choice of law, on-line contracts, consumer protection, legal issues of social media and cloud computing.

The website of the Internet l@w summer school is: www.internetlaw-geneva.ch

Registration deadline: May 15, 2014 (early bird: April 15).