WIPO Committee Tackles Program, Budget Issues
The World Intellectual Property Organization Program and Budget Committee (PBC) is meeting this week with a full agenda of issues relating to planning for the next biennium as well as management matters.
Intellectual Property Watch
Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Year 2015
Russian Government Designs New Strategy In Field Of IP
The Russian government is crafting a new strategy in the field of intellectual property, which should strengthen the protection of IP rights in Russia and create conditions for the acceleration of the domestic research activities in the country, according to Dmitry Livanov of Russia’s Ministry of Science and Education.
New ARIPO Plant Protocol: Conflict Of Farmers’ And Breeders’ Rights?
KAMPALA, UGANDA -- Member states of African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) have adopted a protocol for the protection of new varieties of plants. The measure is aimed at modernising African agricultural practices, but some say it comes at the expense of age-old traditional farming practices, such as saving and re-using seed.
Study Documents Public Domain’s Importance To Innovation And Creativity
An academic research project on the value of the public domain has documented its importance to innovation and creativity. In one empirical study in the project, it was shown that use of the public domain boosts crowd-funding efforts by innovators. The study was discussed recently at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
EU Parliament Adopts Reda Report On Copyright Reform
The European Parliament during its last plenary meeting before the summer break today adopted a non-legislative report on copyright reform prepared by Pirate Party Member Julia Reda. The report calls for an adaptation of the EU 2001 Copyright Directive to the digital market.
3D Printing And Public Policy
John Hornick writes: Although legal principles apply to 3D printing the same as they apply to any other technology, 3D printing has the unique potential to upset the legal status quo. It is the potential scale of 3D printing that may have profound effects on the law. 3D printing cuts across many areas of law, most types of technology, and almost all types of products. Eventually, anyone may be able to make almost anything. No one else will know they made it or be able to control it, which I call 3D printing away from control.
Paper: Commons Approach To European Knowledge Policy Could Yield Better Outcomes
A new paper released earlier this month finds that the commons perspective, which embraces knowledge as a shared resource and its management a joint responsibility, could contribute to EU policy discussions and yield better policy outcomes in areas such as health, environment, science and culture, and the internet.
US Federal Judge Orders Cancellation Of Redskins’ Football Team Trademark Registrations
The Washington Post reports: The Washington Redskins - an American football team - lost their biggest legal and public relations battle yet in the war over their name after a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the cancellation of the NFL team’s federal trademark registrations, opposed for decades by Native American activists who call the moniker disparaging.
European Parliament Decides In Favour Of TTIP Mandate And “New ISDS”
The European Parliament today voted in favour of its own mandate for the negotiations of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a broad free trade agreement between its 28 member states and the United States. With 436 yes versus 241 no votes (32 abstentions), the Parliament adopted a resolution that also gives green light to the hotly debated investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), albeit a new version of it.
US High Court Removes Economics From Patent Law
Economics be damned. So said the US Supreme Court on 22 June, when it reaffirmed a 50 year-old ruling that limits how patent owners can license their patents. The court conceded the limit does not make economic sense, but asserted that patent law has its own logic. That could change many aspects of patent law, according to experts.
Panel: Paradigm Shift In Film Watching Has Created Need For New Finance, Distribution Models
People are becoming increasingly mobile. With that, there are new expectations and needs. Video-on-demand industry experts told a recent event at the World Intellectual Property Organization that this represents a “change of paradigm,” requiring new models for financing and distributing films.
TISA Stocktaking Meeting Also Might Have To Face Growing Protests
With the veil of secrecy lifted a little more on the strictly secret talks of the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) after Wikileaks published large chunks of negotiating text, delegations gathered for negotiations of the trade deal this week in Geneva face some noisy opposition.