Original news and analysis on international IP policy
One of the features of the multi-faceted United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization is its arbitration and mediation of disputes over internet domain names. At a conference at WIPO today, supporters and lawyers who use the system said it is working but suggested some further improvements and a fear of more new domains being introduced.
Starting on 1 December, the central root zone of the internet domain name system (DNS) will be given digital signatures based on the protocol DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in an effort to make the internet more secure. Once signed with…
The new work plan for negotiations for the coming months at the World Trade Organization includes intellectual property issues that some members say are critical to any outcome in the current round of trade negotiations.
A variety of industry and non-governmental groups today applauded the Obama administration’s announcement that Victoria A. Espinel would be nominated to be the first White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. Espinel is a former assistant US Trade Representative for intellectual…
The US Patent and Trademark Office today announced a bilateral agreement with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the mainly English-speaking regional IP group in Africa. The agreement is focused on enforcement and protection, along with ease of filing…
A recent two-day conference of the World Intellectual Property Organization on IP infrastructure also served as a campaign platform of sorts for several candidates vying to be the next head of the European Patent Office in Munich starting in mid-2010.
World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry was accompanied publicly for the first time by the United Nations agency’s first economist as they presented data Friday showing the positive correlation between patent applications and economic cycles.
A French court recently decided to exclude domain name registrars from liability for trademark infringing domain names registered by their customers in a case involving 13 large French companies against Luxembourg domain name registrar EuroDNS. The Third Chamber of the…
The 18th of September will mark the last shipment of lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicines from Canada to Rwanda under a World Trade Organization-sanctioned arrangement. The first shipment of the antiretroviral combination drug manufactured by Canadian pharmaceutical company Apotex was sent in…
The European Commission Trade Directorate today adopted a "communication on enhancing the enforcement of intellectual property rights" within the European Union internal market that aims at greater coordination but stops short of new legislative measures.