Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Non-communicable diseases, access and affordability, global health governance and information and communications technology innovation are some of the important issues discussed and debated at the recent Geneva Health Forum (GHF).
On April 23 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the “Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance,” also known as "NETmundial" in an allusion to the global football event that will occur later in that country, will be convened. Juan Alfonso Fernández González of the Cuban Communications Ministry and a veteran of the UN internet governance meetings, raises 10 questions that need to be answered at NETmundial.
The 9th Circuit’s recent decision in Garcia v. Google has sparked outrage among many internet businesses, media organisations, civil rights groups, and copyright experts. They assert the ruling significantly alters US law in a manner that will greatly restrict free speech. But a minority of experts say there is nothing to fear.
KAMPALA - As the East African Community nears full revival, a bloc market covering five countries with a population of about 145 million people has emerged. But the member countries face another challenge: they have different levels of intellectual property rights protection.
The perhaps underestimated list of goods or services that applicants file with their trademark applications play an essential role in defining the protection the trademark will have.
Registrars use this list to determine if an application should be refused and if it limits a trademark’s exclusive rights. The goods or services listed in an application can also motivate oppositions from competitors with prior rights or cause the future cancellation of the trademark.
A recent trademark case in the European Union calls into attention the need for authorities to establish clear, predictable rules to identify goods and services in trademark systems. Further, the case highlights why it is important for applicants to carefully consider which goods or services they wish to protect and clearly identify them in an application.
Several committees of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) will meet this week. One of them is called to assess a draft legal framework on plant variety protection from the African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO). The draft legislation has drawn ire from civil society who charge that it is detrimental to small farmers and who argue that ARIPO does not have legitimacy to become a UPOV member.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has launched an initiative with other agencies aimed at expanding global access to health products such as medicines. But the Fund has had some explaining to do about the initiative, which some say could encompass a plan to allow different prices based on national income levels.
The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the European Union recently approved a compromise proposal by the Greek presidency, setting up a decision on the EU Council’s signing later this month of the Marrakesh Treaty on access to books for blind and visually impaired persons. However, some EU members raised that the treaty lies within a shared competency between the EU and its member states.
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates this week are trying to refine draft articles relating to the protection of traditional cultural expressions (folklore) that could form the basis for an international instrument. Delegates also are considering the connection of the issue to traditional knowledge.
When “Innocence of Muslims” first appeared online, the video provoked outrage among millions of Muslims around the world. Now the consternation has spread to many copyright experts, internet firms, news organisations, and entertainment companies, who assert that a recent 9th Circuit decision about the movie makes a major change in US copyright law, with terrible consequences for the internet, media, and free speech. Others state that the ruling makes no change at all in US law.
As bacteria become more and more resistant to existing medicines, product pipelines are drying up. A solution may lie in a forgotten therapy developed in 1917, the use of which has been restricted to certain parts of Eastern Europe ever since the discovery and universal use of antibiotics. But business models and intellectual property regimes need to change to provide incentives for research and development in this area.
NEW YORK - “This is a very, very exciting time be in patent law,” Drew Hirshfeld, deputy commissioner for patent examination policy at the US Patent and Trademark Office, told a group of intellectual property lawyers last week.
In his keynote address to the 19-20 March Corporate IP Counsel meeting in Manhattan, Hirshfeld and a range of private sector speakers laid out a picture of a highly dynamic field, with legal and business opportunities and challenges changing every day.