Intellectual Property Watch
Original news and analysis on international IP policy
William New
Green Intellectual Property Scheme: An Innovation Today For Innovations Tomorrow
By Itaru Nitta, Green Intellectual Property Project, Geneva, Switzerland Since the current IP framework has been shaped in wealthy societies of the North, accompanied by fertile markets, the North is required to rebuild the framework if they attempt to expand…
WIPO Patent Committee Opens Way To New Thinking On Future Work Plan
[Note: the final version of the chair’s text is now available on the WIPO website.] By William New World Intellectual Property Organization members discussing a work plan for the committee on patent law on Thursday finished work for the year…
WIPO Patent Meeting May End Early With Little Harmonisation In Work Plan
By William New World Intellectual Property Organization members addressing international patent policy this week may end work early after an apparent agreement to recommend the continuation of the committee next year and a possible focus on some 20 issues. The…
US Supreme Court Limits Patent Owners’ Control Over Downstream Use Of Their Inventions
By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch
The United States has once again chipped away at patent rights. The country's highest court recently handed down a ruling that makes it harder for patent owners to impose limits on downstream users of their inventions.
The US Supreme Court's decision in Quanta Computer Inc. v. LG Electronics Inc., however, fails to address a major issue facing patent owners and their legal counsel: Can patent owners use conditional sales or licensing agreements to impose restrictions on downstream users?
General Electric’s View On Green IP And Technology
General Electric’s Ecomagination is an initiative launched in 2005 as a gathering/focal point for extant green technology as well as new research and development into clean technology. Ecomagination’s products include technologies for cleaner energy, notably wind turbines for collecting wind…
June Edition of IP-Watch Monthly Reporter Now Available
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…
Are you concerned about the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)?
WHO Adopts “Most Important Document Since Doha” On IP And Public Health
By William New The annual World Health Assembly on Saturday adopted a global strategy aimed at filling the research gap for diseases afflicting developing countries that places the UN agency squarely in global intellectual property policymaking and despite compromises is…
International ‘Making Available’ Right Becoming Less Available In US Law
By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch
The United States can't make up its mind. On one hand, the country has signed at least nine international agreements that explicitly provide a new digital right for copyright owners: the exclusive right to make their works electronically available to the public. On the other hand, the US courts are uncertain whether this "making available" right exists under US law.
US courts have split over this issue, with some recognising the right and others rejecting it. But a new trend may be emerging. In the last four months, four US federal district courts have ruled that "making available" is not a right recognised by US copyright law.