Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By William New Australian Francis Gurry became the next in a short list of leaders of the World Intellectual Property Organization Monday, and promptly signalled a programme of increased multilateralism and bolstered global and local relevance for the United Nations…
By William New The 2008 annual assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization likely will be remembered for some time, as the choices member governments make there this week may have a profound effect on the future of the United…
After 3 1/2 years of publishing articles and comments on IP policy it’s high time we at Intellectual Property Watch asked your views on our website and our products. Influence the news! Take this short, simple and totally confidential survey…
Editor’s Note: This submission refers to the 2005 patent law in India, which amended India’s 1970 patent law and implemented the 1994 World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). India allowed proposed patent applications to…
By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch
The ruling has no precedential value. Nevertheless, the recent decision in Jacobsen v. Katzer will have a major impact on US copyright law, according to IP experts.
Jacobsen held that open source licences can be enforced under US copyright law. "It is first time that a US court of appeals has directly addressed issues about the enforceability of open source licences," said Jim Thatcher, Of Counsel in the Seattle office of Woodcock Washburn. "There isn't anywhere else for [US] courts to turn for guidance on this issue, so they will turn to this case and its logic for the enforceability of open source licensing terms."
"[T]rust me, this is huge," Lawrence Lessig, a copyright expert at Stanford Law School, wrote in his online blog.
By William New
Patent filings continue to rise globally, especially in a few nations, as do problems of high-volume application processing and quality assurance. But more attention is needed to bring smaller economies into the patent system, and patenting may slow down with tough economic times, officials at the World Intellectual Property Organization said last week.
Por Catherine Saez Las cuestiones relacionadas con la propiedad intelectual (PI) parecen ser un claro enfoque de políticas de la Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas sobre Comercio y Desarrollo (UNCTAD), ya que la 12.va conferencia cuatrienal de la UNCTAD celebrada…
By William New The World Trade Organization Doha Round is over, and bitterly, at least for now, but negotiators left town with the general consensus that hard-earned work to date should not be lost and that there might be resumption…
By William New Seven-year negotiations at the World Trade Organization collapsed today after an intensive nine-day ministerial snagged on an agricultural issue. And with the end of the Doha Round of trade negotiations for the foreseeable future go the hopes…
By William New Intellectual property issues are progressing slowly and quietly on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization ministerial as prospects for an agreement on broader issues remain tense and uncertain, according to sources. Ways to proceed on IP…