Original news and analysis on international IP policy
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The names are in: four candidates will compete to be the next director general of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization. In addition to Australia’s nomination of incumbent Francis Gurry to lead for a second term, Nigeria, Panama, and at the last minute, Estonia, submitted names.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced today that the largest scientific open access initiative ever will begin on 1 January 2014.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay today said at the outset of a meeting with World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee that human rights must always be at the heart of discussions about the Web, as it affects so many aspects of society.
The European Commission today announced the launch of a public consultation on modernisation of European Union copyright rules.
Intellectual Property Watch has been working to make more information public about US government involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement under negotiation with 11 other countries.
At the World Trade Organization Ministerial in Bali, Indonesia today, Yemen was accepted as a new least-developed country member. Its terms for joining included adoption of full intellectual property trade rules by 2016, which more than 160 civil society groups worldwide said is in contravention of last summer's agreement to extend the period for LDCs to adopt such rules to 2021 or later.
The European Union Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM) has released a study showing that most EU citizens are aware of and value intellectual property, but about a third of them find infringement acceptable in certain circumstances.
World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry continues to receive criticism from some quarters in the United States technology and intellectual property sector who say he should not be re-elected for a second six-year term next year.
Even for the “low-hanging fruit,” the 125 ministers gathered in Bali at this week’s World Trade Organization Ninth Ministerial Conference will have to work hard. After talks on food security and subsidisation broke down last week in Geneva, the WTO has rearranged the agenda to allow more space for ministers to engage in direct negotiations, WTO Spokesman Keith Rockwell said at a briefing on the eve of the event.
Just as the world of international intellectual property law and policy is ever-changing, so are the faces within it. There’s a new head of the US Commerce Department who has a bold, IP-friendly agenda coming up, and there’s a hole at the helm of the USPTO. The British Prime Minister named an entertainment industry-friendly IP advisor, while Twitter has formed its own PAC and hired its first lobbyist as the social media platform continues to rise in both use and influence. Law firms in the US are bolstering their IP practices, recognising that it’s these issues that spur action most in Congress. Read the latest edition of the IP-Watch People column for an updated list of the latest people news and IP moves.
European Union Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht today (27 November) defended the inclusion of an investor-state dispute settlement provision in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). De Gucht argued the out-of-court settlements allowing private sector to sue governments were necessary because the TTIP would not per se give EU companies a standing in US courts.
Developing countries have been under pressure for years to join the global intellectual property system established by developed countries, and they have been doing so gradually. But now the leading emerging economies have taken matters into their own hands and signed an IP cooperation roadmap among themselves that will boost their uptake of IP in a way that is most favourable to them.