Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A United States government agency later this month will hold the first meeting of a multistakeholder forum on improving the operation of the widespread notice and takedown system for removing infringing content from the internet.
Incumbent Francis Gurry of Australia today was nominated to be the director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization until 2020, with WIPO members to make their final decision on 8 May. In his return to office, Gurry told reporters today he wants to focus on the digital marketplace, improving the organisation’s performance, changing geopolitics, and to steer journalists away from writing about allegations of wrongdoing at WIPO.
After a bumpy road, the director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization today was recommended by the WIPO Coordination Committee to be returned to office for another six-year term.
World Intellectual Property Organization members this morning held a first round of voting for the director general candidate to lead the UN organisation for the next six years. The top three candidates, from Australia, Nigeria and Panama, will advance to the second round to be held this afternoon.
An executive committee of nearly half the World Intellectual Property Organization membership will tomorrow, 6 March, select the leader of the key UN organisation for the next six years. And it is still hard to predict whether the incumbent will return.
The South Centre, the Geneva-based intergovernmental organisation of developing countries, yesterday issued a statement calling on World Trade Organization members to oppose United States pressure against developing countries, and India in particular, over their intellectual property laws.
World Intellectual Property Organization members this week are meeting to discuss efforts to better protect intellectual property rights worldwide, including some new proposals for discussion and an exhibition on national programmes.
The United States, home to the organisation that oversees technical aspects of the internet domain name system, has advice for an upcoming meeting in Brazil aimed at revisiting the global internet governance: consider principles developed in past meetings, and don't retread old sore spots. In other words, don't disrupt the status quo.
The White House today announced measures that it said will advance its battle against "patent trolls", and urged Congress to pass patent reform legislation toward the effort. And the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a statement on its work in support of the executive actions.
A coalition of large and small companies and organisation - including the leading trade associations for the US pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries - has asked the US Congress to use caution in rewriting patent laws so as not to cause unintended harm to their ability to innovate.