William New

William New

  • Joined: 30/11/-0001
  • Articles: 2099
  • Comments: 43

WIPO Members Reach Tentative Deal On TK Treaties; External Offices Mired

World Intellectual Property Organization members this evening reached a hard-won preliminary agreement on a path to a high-level negotiation of treaties or other instruments for the protection of traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources. The tentative deal, reached in informal meetings, creates an intensive work programme for the next year and a final decision in September 2014. The plan will have to go before the full WIPO membership in plenary as soon as Monday.

WIPO Approves 15 New Observers, Including DNDi, COHRED; Pirate Parties Rejected

Member governments of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization today approved 15 new observers to the organisation, including three international organisations, and a range of nongovernmental organisations such as two significant public health-oriented groups. But two groups were rejected, including the high-profile Pirate Parties International. Separately, the member governments of the important WIPO Program and Budget Committee were also announced today.

Indonesia Becomes Fifth To File WTO Case Against Australia Tobacco Plain-Packaging

Indonesia has become the fifth country to initiate dispute settlement procedures at the World Trade Organization challenging an Australian public health law requiring tobacco products to be sold in plain packages as a way to discourage their use.

Negotiators, Stakeholders Tell Tale Of WIPO Marrakesh Treaty Negotiation, Look To Implementation

Several negotiators and other stakeholders participating in last June’s successful negotiation of an international treaty to ease access to reading material for blind and visually impaired people recently gathered in Washington, DC to look back on the remarkable and at-times bitter talks. Months later, not all agree on certain historical details, such as the US position, but all agree it was a significant accomplishment.

Members Of US Congress Urge US To Oppose Re-Election Of WIPO Director Gurry

A handful of influential members of the United States Congress have sent a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, urging the Obama administration not to support the re-election of World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry.

Motion Picture Association Study Finds Search Engines Complicit In Piracy

A new study released today by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in the company of members of the United States Congress found that internet search engines play a key role in user access to copyright infringing content online. The copyright industry study will be used to make the case that search engine companies, such as Google, need to take more responsibility in deterring use of unauthorised content without compensation to the rightsholders.