Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The European Commission is considering giving publishers the same “neighbouring” rights currently available to broadcasters and producers of someone else's copyrighted content, it said in a 23 March consultation document. The inquiry is part of the EC's digital single market initiative to boost Europe's digital economy.
The role of intellectual property in economic, social and cultural development is at the heart of an international conference organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization this week. Today, a diverse range of speakers gave their views on the relationship between IP and innovation and creativity, with some describing in specific examples how IP helped their developing economies. Many speakers insisted on the need for developing countries to have policy space to define an IP system best suited to their development needs.
A two-day international conference on intellectual property and development opened today at the World Intellectual Property Organization with calls from speakers for the IP system to be applied by nations in ways appropriate to their economies, even if it means allowing copying - just as the biggest IP-holding nations did when they were developing years ago. The theme was set by the opening keynote speaker, South African Trade Minister Rob Davies.
The World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) meets next week with a focus on how universities and research institutions can best derive value from their discoveries. Also on the agenda are proposed projects and several documents mapping WIPO development-related activities, such as South-South cooperation. And the action kicks off this week with a wide-ranging conference on IP and development at WIPO.
The “Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016” cleared the Senate unanimously on 4 April. The measure amends the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 to create a private civil cause of action for trade secret misappropriation. The bill now heads to the House, where passage appears likely, according to IP lawyers.
Members of a team reviewing at the World Health Organization framework for ensuring global pandemic influenza preparedness moved ahead with their proceedings last week. They found both support for the framework, and also concerns.
Genius, brilliant, generous, wholehearted, warm, kind, funny, original, musician, art lover, brave, restless, these are few of the most suitable and recurrent attributes of Denis Borges Barbosa, who passed away on Saturday, April 2nd. Leading IP professor, researcher and attorney in Brazil, he was also the key international face of Brazilian IP, write Allan Rocha de Souza and Cláudia Chamas.
Advocacy groups supporting digital rights and access online joined rights holders and artists in calling for reform to the United States law intended to balance copyright protection with the free flow of information on the internet. But the advocacy groups say the problem may be rights holders' improper takedowns of online content and errors in the system.
Arguing that the copyright law in the United States intended to protect creative works while allowing access by the next creators is "broken", hundreds of top artists, songwriters, managers and music associations are urging reforms to the law. Top performers like Katy Perry and Christina Aguilera joined the call.
The Council of Europe, the 47-member intergovernmental group based in Strasbourg, France, this week adopted an internet governance strategy for the next four years, putting particular emphasis on human rights and democracy online. The strategy includes a series of steps and actions.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today (30 March) issued its annual National Trade Estimate report pointing fingers at trading partners' practices it sees as barriers to US trade. And the treatment of intellectual property in countries like India is high on the list. But the report also goes to lengths to praise progress in countries too.
Five years after its adoption, a World Health Organization mechanism to help the world be ready for future influenza pandemics is being reviewed. According to several stakeholders invited to share their views, a major challenge is genetic sequence data, which allows digital reproduction of material. Other issues include the relationship of the mechanism to an international convention on access to genetic resources, and the contribution of industry.