Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Trade Organization today announced that the three facilitators charged with consulting WTO members have recommended Brazilian Amb. Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo become its next director general.
Cuba has joined several other World Trade Organization members in filing a dispute settlement case against Australia over its new rules requiring tobacco products to be sold in plain packages. The measure was instituted this year as a means of reducing use of tobacco products.
Just days after the celebration of 20 years of an open WorldWideWeb, more than two dozen advocacy group are circulating a petition to prevent the World Wide Web Consortium from accepting a proposal to allow restrictive new copyright measures on the key technology for accessing the internet.
Istanbul - Counterfeiters are using legitimate supply chains, and shipping companies are unknowingly allowing it and need to take steps to crack down, rights holders’ representatives said at a recent anti-counterfeiting conference. Meanwhile, Europe is undertaking a study of the benefits of IP-intensive industries, and new customs and protection measures.
The US National Research Council has issued a report that looks at copyrighted works in the age of the internet, and finds a need for objective data and independent empirical research on copyright protection and the limits it can place on innovation and free speech. This comes as efforts are underway to review US copyright policy.
The selection process for the next director general of the World Trade Organization is down to two candidates, both from Latin America. Intellectual Property Watch asked them to comment on why they would be the best leader for those interested in technology and intellectual property rights.
The participation of indigenous peoples at the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization has become compromised as the funds allowing the organisation to invite indigenous peoples representatives is running dry. At the outset of this week’s WIPO committee seeking to produce an international instrument providing protection to traditional knowledge, an indigenous panel mapped out international agreements recognising their specific rights.
Istanbul - The unsuspecting consumer must above all be protected against counterfeit products, speakers said today at meeting of private sector, intergovernmental and governmental representatives. But increasingly organised crime is dealing the products, and anti-counterfeiting forces need to be as innovative as possible to defeat it. Fortunately, the private sector is ready to step up to help cash-strapped governments, and it is taking the “respect for IP” message to … children.
At the close of this week’s negotiating session for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for blind and visually impaired persons, some governments, including upcoming host Morocco, expressed disappointment in the outcome of a three-day drafting session, as it left so much for the diplomatic conference. But most said they are optimistic that solutions can be found.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization have completed work on a draft treaty on copyright exceptions for the blind and visually impaired and agreed to move to a diplomatic conference in Morocco in June. But the text contains many areas displaying the difficulty in easing cross-border access to materials for blind people while protecting copyright holders’ interests.
A new text has been the subject of negotiation today by a committee seeking to finalise a draft treaty providing exceptions and limitations to copyrights so that blind and visually impaired people have facilitated access to special format books. Delegates are seeking to find language through agreed statements as a way out of prickly issues.
The number of candidates seeking to be the next director general of the World Trade Organization has dropped from nine down to five.