Original news and analysis on international IP policy
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates sitting on the copyright committee had to declare defeat late into the night yesterday as they could not agree on the conclusions of the meeting or its future work. The efforts by developing countries to craft a treaty providing copyright exceptions for libraries and archives met with stonewalled resistance by some developed countries, in particular the European Union.
The World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee this week has sunk its teeth into the issue of exceptions and limitations to copyright for libraries and archives. Some countries are pushing for a treaty to establish such exceptions while others find that the existing copyright system provides for it.
An investment policy review undertaken by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) found that Bangladesh needs to attract foreign direct investment to sustain its development and suggests that the country loosen its grip on the pharmaceutical sector. Bangladesh said the review will be carefully considered.
Nongovernmental organisations attending the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee meeting which this week sought to breach differences on what a treaty protecting broadcasters should cover, expressed their views with some unusual coherence.
During a signing ceremony held today at the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Union, France, Greece and India signed the treaty adopted last June to provide a wider access to copyrighted books in special format for visually impaired people.
The first half of this week’s World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee meeting was devoted to a potential treaty to protect broadcasters’ rights. Delegations struggled to find common ground on core questions such as the scope of the protection to be granted and specific rights. This was partly attributed to the highly technical nature of the subject and informal consultations were said to have achieved more clarity on issues.
Can the World Trade Organization’s smallest members use the dispute settlement system effectively? That is a question that seemed to be suggested by the tiny Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda at a WTO Dispute Settlement Body meeting yesterday, in an intellectual property-related case involving a United States gambling ban.
The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body yesterday agreed to establish two more panels in a dispute against Australia's plain packaging for tobacco products, bringing the total to five. And it was agreed that a single panel will be appointed to study the five complaints.
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates next week are expected to pore over a draft treaty text offering protection to broadcasters. Some issues, such as what the protection should cover, remain in the way of consensual language, and a new proposal has been put forward by the United Kingdom. Also on the agenda of the copyright committee is exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives, for which the nature of the instrument(s) that would provide such exceptions is not yet defined.
Another agenda item is a proposal on a copyright consortium for managing books for visually impaired persons.
The African Regional Intellectual Property Office last week obtained a positive decision at the international level on its draft law to protect new varieties of plants. Amid protest from civil society, the regional office now has to adopt the draft law and has said it would convene a diplomatic conference (high-level negotiation) in 2014 in order to do so.
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.
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.