Original news and analysis on international IP policy
This article provides an update on recent changes in the copyright legislative and regulatory framework in Russia, in particular, following up on the first decisions enforcing the recently introduced law against online video piracy and the announcement of the establishment of the new federal authority for copyright.
There appears to be consensus at the World Intellectual Property Organization on establishing a procedural treaty to facilitate the international registration of industrial designs. But a weeklong committee meeting last week could not solve the issue of how to include technical assistance in the treaty. The WIPO General Assembly in December will decide on whether to convene a high-level meeting next year to finalise the treaty. Meanwhile, the United States proposed resuscitating discussions on geographical indications (GIs) in the committee, which stirred resistance.
Seong-Joon Park is the director general of the Trademark & Design Examination Bureau at the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). He sat down this week with Intellectual Property Watch to present TM5, a joint global initiative on trademark and design with four other IP-intensive offices, and his vision for trademark and designs in South Korea. As part of the initiative, KIPO is holding a weeklong series of events on trademark and designs in December.
Years-old efforts by members of the World Health Organization to come up with viable ways to boost research and development of medical products for diseases primarily affecting poor populations are coming to head, with a key meeting in December. That meeting of experts will be an opportunity to narrow down proposals being developed by the six WHO regional offices.
The international organisation providing and promoting intellectual property protection for new plant varieties held the annual meeting of its governing body last week. New member requests were examined while civil society warned against a draft African legal framework on plant variety protection that they said could impact the dominant subsistence farming systems in some African states.
Away from traditional free trade agreement negotiations with secret chapters on stricter intellectual property protection, perceptions are slowly evolving about the need to make IP systems work better. One of 100+ sessions at the 8th United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Bali, Indonesia last week featured “intellectual property exchanges” as marketplaces for knowledge. But IP policy did not take centre stage and neither did other access topics in Bali, which instead was overshadowed by the recent revelations of mass surveillance by US intelligence services.
Though the WHO is among the recipients of EU contributions, support should be scaled up now that the WHO fears program cuts because of a persistent funding crisis. Revenues from a Financial Transaction Tax would be a resource for the EU to partly allocate for WHO needs, writes Daniele Dionisio.
Poland’s Minister of Science and Higher Education Barbara Kudrycka has announced plans to modify Poland’s intellectual property law by providing scientists with property rights to the results of their research.
The revelations of mass surveillance by the US and other intelligence services are expected to considerably influence the 8th Internet Governance Forum in Bali, Indonesia this week.
A newly published study from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) outlines significant problems in accessing medicines in South Africa – which is said to have the highest number of people living with HIV in the world – and urges its government to use available tools under international trade law such as exceptions to patents on needed medicines.
A recent European Union regulation on customs enforcement of intellectual property rights has raised concerns among civil society actors who find that the regulation might not be an improvement over its previous version under which seizure of legal generic medicines in transit occurred a few years ago, leading to a World Trade Organization dispute.
Alongside last week’s meeting of the World Trade Organization intellectual property committee, the United States, European Union and Jamaica organised an event on the relevance of intellectual property in sports. Speakers from professional organisations such as the International Olympic Committee, the Association of European Professional Football Leagues, and the Nike company were invited to share their experience in the matter.