Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By William New BRUSSELS – European publishers and copyright holders have a friend in European Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding, which she reinforced last week in describing efforts to push through a new bill on digital publishing copyrights. At the…
By William New World Trade Organization members seeking changes to international rules on trade and intellectual property rights moved this week to include the debate on their proposals in an upcoming deadline for the broader trade negotiations at the WTO.…
[Re: 2 December referendum on constitutional changes in Venezuela] By Rafael Carreño, SAPI External Advisor During the last few months across Venezuela at dozens of open forums -both on the streets and within institutions and in the media, there have…
By William New The World Trade Organization has launched an investigation into allegations that China is unfairly limiting the flow of copyrighted material from the United States into the country. Meanwhile, the WTO issued the periodic review of Thailand’s policies…
By William New The formation of a World Trade Organization panel requested by the United States on China’s distribution of American copyrighted material was delayed this week after a procedural move on an unrelated matter. The US panel request was…
In the ongoing WHO debate over the sharing of virus strains and benefits accruing from that sharing (including potential patenting), Indonesia has been facing off against much of the developed world and its industry in seeking new strong measures to…
By William New The politically explosive issue of ensuring everyone benefits from vaccines in the event of an influenza pandemic is the subject of a negotiation underway at the World Health Organization this week. The work of the member governments…
By William New The World Health Organization, which has intensively debated intellectual property rights issues in recent years, has restructured its management of the issues, elevating IP to the director general’s office. “[The restructuring] shows the importance that the director…
By William New When Kamil Idris, the director general of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization, informed staff last week that the process for electing his successor would occur one year early, it was met with mixed reactions. It…
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The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Reporter features the most important news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the IP community at the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Geneva missions, regional and national IP…
By William New The member governments of the World Health Organization finished an intensive week of negotiations on ways to improve access to healthcare for poorer populations with significant progress on a framework. But difficult work remains for the next…