William New

William New

OECD Calibrates Role In Fast-Changing Internet Society

OTTAWA – The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Paris-based club of 30 of the world’s largest economies, is moving fast to keep up with the newest trend on the Internet: user-generated content. Referred to generally as ‘Web 2.0’,…

US Courts Swinging Toward Higher Threshold For Patentability

By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch
For years, the United States has appeared unusually generous towards patent applicants. The country has extended legal protection to many inventions, such as business methods, that typically are not patentable in Europe and other parts of the world.

Now, however, America appears to be back-pedalling. Two recent court rulings in the United States have significantly cut back on the types of inventions that can patented in the country. And these decisions may be just the beginning. More court-imposed restrictions may be coming soon, according to some experts.

Debate On Director General Reaches Breaking Point

By William New Governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization on Tuesday appeared to be near a breaking point on the effort by developed countries to discuss possible improprieties and mismanagement by the WIPO director general and their effort to…

The Idris Dilemma And The WIPO Development Agenda

By Sisule F. Musungu On Friday, 28th September 2007 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) General Assembly finally adopted a development agenda for WIPO. The Assembly adopted a set of 45 proposals under six clusters, namely: technical assistance and capacity…

WIPO Launches New Agenda On IP And Development

By William New The member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization on Friday formally adopted a new Development Agenda, launching an enhanced development orientation across all of its activities, with details on implementation to be determined later. “This is…