Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By William New In a recent meeting, a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) committee agreed to increase its activity related to intellectual property rights and genetic resources. This could have significance for negotiations on the issue currently at the World…
By William New Just in time for the New Year, the United States Congress has passed a bill that will continue to allow the production of knock-off champagnes from outside of France. The European Union is currently examining a bill…
By William New As the year end draws near, United States government officials are marking the ground for international intellectual property debates to come in 2007. On 13 December, Senator Patrick Leahy, incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee released…
By William New The member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) this week furthered their involvement in WIPO’s programme and budget decisions and clarified their understanding of key efforts underway on personnel and new-building construction. But as WIPO…
By William New Informal consultations on 11 December on World Trade Organization negotiations to create a multilateral register for geographical indications produced little progress but showed a willingness by all sides to continue talking on the issue, participants said. The…
By William New
Addressing a mixed crowd of private-sector innovation champions and cautious keepers of traditional indigenous ways at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) last week, biotechnology industry representatives sought to overcome fears of intentional misappropriation.
By William New Member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) this week broke a longstanding deadlock over how to discuss better protection of traditional knowledge and folklore. In addition, several countries stepped up their call for talks on…
This week, a key World Intellectual Property Organization committee is debating policies related to the protection of traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions (folklore) and genetic resources with an eye to helping local communities, often indigenous, get the full market value…
By William New Lofty policies ostensibly aimed at helping communities protect traditional practices of global interest are under discussion at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week. But procedural differences so far have been bringing them to the ground. For…
By Molly Torsen A more and more robust literature on traditional cultural expressions is being written, discussed and even filtered into legislation. Most academic thinking on the topic agrees that Western intellectual property (IP) laws do not offer adequate or…
By William New
Technology companies have long recognised the importance to their economic growth of patents and standards, but increasingly they are focusing on the intersection of the two in order to seek changes to the patent system, industry experts told an event at the World Intellectual Property Organization on 29 November.
The presenters were Tim Frain, director of IPR in the regulatory affairs department of Nokia Corporation, and Paul Davey, director of intellectual property at the Vodafone Group.
Both industry representatives encouraged government officials in the audience to consider legislative remedies to problems they perceive in patents interfering with standards related to technological innovation.
Davey and Frain discussed concerns that some holding licenses for technology may not be willing to recognise the need for access to standard-related patents in order to ensure the interoperability of technologies. Frain argued that the current patent regime "may no longer be sufficient," and suggested a legislative change might be necessary.
By Pedro Paranaguá. The traditional business model of the phonographic industry is being left behind by the competitiveness of new technologies. The technological world is evolving, but some businesses are struggling as they are not adapting themselves to the ever-increasing…