Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization treaty which is expected to facilitate access to special format works for blind and visually impaired people gained two more ratifications, bringing the accession to the treaty to 13. The treaty will enter into force three months after the accession of the 20th member.
Copyright exceptions for libraries, archives, educational and research institutions and persons with disabilities other than visual impairment will remain on the agenda of the next session of the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee. The subject is touchy as developing countries deem those exceptions vital for development and developed countries say that the current global copyright framework leaves enough space for national exceptions to copyright.
A United Nations high-level panel of experts has set a process in motion to find solutions to increase access to medicines. Following its first meeting last week, the panel will call for proposals to recommend solutions that can promote innovation, but preserve human rights and public health interests.
Two new proposals concerning the rights of artists seemed to bring new energy to the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee last week. Proposals encouraged delegates to create a legal framework to help artists benefit from use of their works and royalties by intermediaries.
The World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee closed last week without a definite work programme for the next session but two new projects seem to have stirred up the committee after years of inconclusive talks on a proposed treaty protecting broadcasts, and exceptions to copyright for libraries, archives, education and research. The new subjects relate to exceptions for museums, and resale rights. Meanwhile, a new text on broadcasting is being prepared for next session.
The World Intellectual Property Organization is working on an extension to its patent search systems to include specific searches for chemical compounds. The system is expected to be operational by July 2016.
Two and a half years after an international treaty was adopted to facilitate access to special format literary works for blind and visually impaired people, the European Blind Union blames the failure of the European Union to ratify it as a failure to implement the right to read in the EU.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization yesterday launched a report aiming at helping the current divide on the issue of trade and food security.
Museums usually gather heterogeneous objects, coming in various forms, and engage in different activities in relation to those objects. With the advance of information technologies, museums have to adapt and consider the digitisation of their collections, which brings copyright questions, according to a study presented yesterday at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
From the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to the Sustainable Development Goals, what are the main achievements in health and what are the main challenges for the next 15 years? That is the question the World Health Organization sought to answer in a new publication issued yesterday.