Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Innovation in information and communications technologies during the economic downturn has brought shifts in the landscape with new technologies and newcomers in the market, according to speakers at a symposium organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center on 8 October. Meanwhile, dispute resolution involving intellectual property rights is on the rise, they said.
Access to medicines in developing countries may be put at risk by European customs regulations and more broadly by trade provisions in most free trade agreements between developed and developing countries, said speakers at the recent World Trade Organization Public Forum.
Sixty years after its foundation, the Council of Europe is reconsidering its role and place in the architecture of European institutions. One new development is the drafting of a convention against medicines counterfeiting.
The economic, climate and food crises were on the lips of speakers at the 2009 World Trade Organization Public Forum last week. Suggestions for better global governance were sought from stakeholders who took the podium in different sessions, and trade in agriculture was a focal point of the event.
COPENHAGEN - A panel discussing the copyright challenges posed by social media at a recent conference in Iceland concluded that while new and stricter regulations as proposed in France may not be a bad idea, the best solution is to provide consumers with quality services for which they are willing to pay. Meanwhile, there are new developments at the European level.
The United States Congress and biotechnology industry are currently focused on healthcare reform, but biotech is also looking to the future at energy reform, patent reform and other intellectual property-related legislative priorities still on its agenda.
Intellectual property rights are a key to innovation, the mitigation of climate change, an incentive to spur the economy and a creator of jobs, according to participants in several recent industry events and activities.
The third amendment of Chinese Patent Law enters into force from 1 October, 2009. This article by Wenting Cheng explores the major changes in substantive requirements for patent grant, post-grant enforcement and adaptation of Chinese Patent Law to international norms on the protection of intellectual property.
When Amazon.com remotely deleted George Orwell’s “1984" and “Animal Farm” from its Kindle e-books, it stirred up a hornet’s nest of complaints about privacy, the potential erosion of copyright users’ rights and censorship. Is the shift to “tethered devices” a real cause for concern or much ado about nothing?
With a day to go before the joint project agreement between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the United States Department of Commerce (DoC) is set to expire, calls for continuous US oversight role have been reiterated by US politicians and private-sector representatives who reason that this oversight is especially needed in the face of the planned introduction of new internet top-level domains like .shop.
As the United States is moving to ensure that internet (net) neutrality is preserved in that country, some are hoping other regions of the world will take notice, particularly the European Union.
Participants at a recent United Nations conference on the role of new plant varieties and seeds in agriculture agreed that access to genetic resources and the protection of intellectual property rights are essential to sustain plant breeding. But key opponents not invited to the meeting claim that plant breeding will endanger biodiversity, sustainability and ultimately food security.