Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is launching a large expansion of the available top-level domains on the internet on 12 January, has told international organisations the expansion will not hurt them.
A new report from the United States Department of Commerce on competitiveness and innovation details the US need to boost innovation in order to compete globally and grow the economy. But while it stresses the need for strong intellectual property rights enforcement to create high-priced monopolies as an incentive for innovation, it also acknowledges that access to inexpensive technology and ideas is key to innovation and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it shows that the rise in IP rights in recent years has been accompanied by a drop in innovation.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published four notices of proposed rulemaking implementing provisions of the patent reform law signed last year. The issuance of the rules, which came ahead of schedule, opens a 60-day comment period on the draft rules.
The sudden change in officials in charge of international policy at the United States Patent and Trademark Office could reflect shifting priorities at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
The dates have been set for this year's high-level negotiation for a treaty on audiovisual performances at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
A "call for evidence" has been issued for an independent feasibility study on developing a Digital Copyright Exchange in the United Kingdom. Members of the "creative industries" are being asked to respond to the assertion made in a preceding study by Professor Ian Hargreaves that the current copyright licensing system is not fit for the digital age, as well as definitions used by Hargreaves.
The most-read Intellectual Property Watch stories of 2011 demonstrated the versatility and range of our readers from around the globe, from an intense focus on international and national copyright issues to bilateral and plurilateral free trade agreements, to issues in India and Brazil, patent laws, patents in agriculture, scientific knowledge, and of course, policies emerging in Geneva at the World Intellectual Property Organization, World Trade Organization, World Health Organization and elsewhere at the multilateral level. Most of all, they tell the story of the year gone by, with clear signals of what's to come in 2012.
The European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee approval this week of a single patent for participating European Union members sets the stage for a February plenary vote in Parliament. But members’ inability to agree on where to locate the new unified patent litigation court means the Polish presidency won’t get to see finalisation of the process that will now head into 2012 under the guidance of Denmark.
The Geneva-based International Publishers Association today joined organisations demanding that the interim Egyptian government stop attacks on an Egyptian publisher, and uphold the internationally recognised right to freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of assembly and association.
The United States Trade Representative’s office today released its second report in a year on markets it has labeled “notorious” based on unofficial comments it has received. The report identifies physical and internet-based marketplaces around the world that may be hotbeds for the sale of intellectual property infringing goods.
The World Intellectual Property Organization today released a report showing global filings for patents and trademarks turned upward in 2010. But there were some variations across the map.
Despite the low-key role of intellectual property rights issues at this week’s World Trade Organization ministerial, there is plenty to think about for the IP community.