Original news and analysis on international IP policy
This is a description
Just like the draft text on the protection of genetic resources last month, a set of draft articles on the protection of traditional knowledge have cleared a hurdle and will be forwarded to the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly next autumn.
An alleged leaked analysis by the European Union provides insight into the intellectual property section of the draft Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the United States. And separately, the US International Trade Commission released a report on trade barriers that US small businesses perceive in exporting to Europe.
World Intellectual Property Organization member states today are trying to agree on the draft text of a potential international instrument to protect traditional knowledge from misappropriation.
Investor-state provisions in trade and investment agreements, which allow private companies to sue governments for policies taken that undermine the companies' investment expectations, have come under recent scrutiny for their potential to undermine the public interest. Today, the United States Trade Representative published a blog post defending these provisions, while the European Union opened a public consultation on the provisions in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the US.
This morning, the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on traditional knowledge issued a revised set of draft articles of an international instrument aimed at protecting traditional knowledge against misappropriation.
The World Intellectual Property Organization meeting on traditional knowledge and folklore meeting this week was abruptly adjourned by the chair this afternoon, to reconvene tomorrow morning, with a head-on challenge to governments.
Lawrence Strickling, the United States assistant secretary of Commerce, today called on the internet community to come up with a “solid proposal” for the transition of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), from the US to a new multi-stakeholder oversight model. IANA is responsible for changes made to the internet domain name system.
Geographical indications appear in the name of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on trademarks, but had been neglected there for years, merely appearing on the agenda. Now the issue has actively returned to the committee, seemingly challenging efforts in a parallel working group at WIPO.
The United Nations Secretary General and head of the UN International Telecommunication Union earlier this week applauded an announcement by the United States government that it plans to relinquish its remaining control over the internet domain name system.
The rise of knowledge societies leads to the emergence of new conflicts initiated by stakeholders who do not come from the closed world of intellectual property, but rather from the general civil society. This reflects the growing importance of IP in the international economy, says a recent book.
A multi-stakeholder group open to participants will meet this week for the first Geneva Dialogue on Traditional Knowledge, to informally discuss negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organization scheduled to resume next week.
An innovative South African start-up is offering local university students a way around buying cheap pirated books with a legal print-on-demand service that slashes the price of expensive academic textbooks.