Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The inner workings of United Nations agencies can be very complicated, with clashes of cultures and management styles and any number of pressures. The case of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization appears to be a particular example in this respect.
Innovation holds a centre stage at the World Trade Organization Public Forum this year. During the opening plenary today, the WTO director general said the organisation needs updating. And some participants said international trade is at a crossroads, with much to gain or lose.
Policymakers at the World Intellectual Property Organization annual General Assembly over the past week have had significant exposure to what industry and creators are up to. Meanwhile, WIPO members approved the mandate for the WIPO committee on IP enforcement.
NEW YORK – The vast collaboration between the pharmaceutical industry, government and civil society is perhaps “one of the best-kept secrets of our industry,” the head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) said this week, stressing the need for even more cooperating heading into the post-2015 development agenda at the United Nations.
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.
Patent assertion entities in the United States have done well from software patents. These companies, which some call “patent trolls,” have garnered a clear majority of their revenues by licensing software patents and suing those who refuse to purchase licences. But these companies’ reliance on software patents may be coming to an end. In recent years, these companies are increasingly exploiting business method patents, and by doing so are targeting a much larger range of businesses, according to a recently released study.
Rene Summer writes: The debate about copyright enforcement – whether rights holders’ unshakable conviction in the effectiveness of graduated responses is rational – has reached a watershed. This is not to say that there aren’t any ongoing, well-funded lobby campaigns around the world aimed at convincing policy makers to revert to the practice of some form of graduated response. Nor am I saying that there aren’t any other important considerations, such as the rights of citizens and intermediaries, to be weighted in when debating copyright enforcement, lessening the case for such practices. Rather, what I am saying is that arguing for graduated responses can no longer be done on efficiency grounds without at the same time being intellectually dishonest.
The process of opening up data from the public and private sectors has achieved relevant success in recent years, but many challenges are still to be overcome to make data really accessible and usable by the public. These were the main ideas that emerged from a meeting of open knowledge experts in Geneva yesterday.
The United States government is undertaking substantive review of, and strategy for, its intellectual property system, with an eye toward a major overhaul of aspects such as copyright. And stakeholders are leaping at the opportunity to comment.
The National Industrial Property Office of the Dominican Republic (ONAPI) is working on a database that would make information about patent applications filed in the country readily available. Currently, obtaining such information can be costly and complicated.
The USTR's disapproval of the ITC order excluding Apple products from the US raises difficult issues about the relationship between public decision-making and private solutions -- and invites strategic policymaking by other governments.
CAPE TOWN - The South African National Intellectual Property Policy is expected to be published this month, after a much-anticipated wait to see what shape and form the policy has given intellectual property rights in the country.