Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Broadband Commission for Digital Development, a mixed public-private sector leaders group aimed at boosting high-speed internet availability in the developing world, today issued an open letter to the leaders of the Group of 20 urging action which the commission says will lead to greater socio-economic growth.
Informa has announced a range of upcoming events and courses on the essential aspects of intellectual property and technology of interest to Intellectual Property Watch readers. Here is the list:
Events:
IP Dispute Resolution - 28 - 29 June 2012, Grange City Hotel, London, UK
European Trademarks 2012 – 3rd July 2012, Grange City Hotel, London, UK
Protecting Corporate Information – 5th July 2012, One Drummond Gate, London, UK
IT Law Summer School 2012 – 30 July - 3 August 2012, Downing College, Cambridge, UK
IP Summer School - 13 - 17 August 2012, Downing College, Cambridge, UK
Distance Learning Courses:
Computer and Communications Law LLM, PgDip - from Queen Mary, University of London
UK, EU & US Copyright Law LLM, PgDip - from King's College London
European Union institutions this week informally agreed on how to handle “orphan works” - those whose creators cannot be found. The proposed new directive is the first legislation to come out of the European Commission (EC) intellectual property rights strategy adopted in May 2011, Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier said on 6 June.
All seems to come down to the numbers on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement: how many protesters will turn up at the ACTA Action Day in Europe tomorrow and how many members of the European Parliament (EP) will vote for it in plenary on 3 July. Without the EP agreement, ACTA will fail, at least in Europe, observers say.
On the eve of the 9 June Europe-wide protests against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), journalist Jennifer Baker of IDG met with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Christian Engström (Pirate Party) & Niccolo Rinaldi (ALDE) to discuss the current state of affairs with regard to the ACTA. Watch the video.
Intellectual property enforcement was discussed at yesterday’s session of the World Trade Organization council on IP-related issues in two different contexts, both involving the United States. Cuba complained about the US failure to comply with a 10-year-old ruling on a Cuban rum brand name, and the US added an agenda item on enforcement against counterfeit goods, both of which created some stir.
The United States stands united in its opposition to any international proposal to regulate the internet or to expand the jurisdiction of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) over the Web, US officials said on 31 May.
The French "three-strike" law aimed at preventing illegal downloading of protected works on the internet, enacted in October 2009 after much controversy, may be modified by the newly elected French government, according to sources.
The 13th Commercial Court of Appeal recently affirmed the decision of the Commercial Court of St. Petersburg in Russia’s leading P2P case ruling that the social network vKontakte, a Facebook lookalike, is liable for copyright infringement.
The shadow of the tobacco industry was present at last week’s annual World Health Assembly, featuring the villain in what World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan called a theatre of the absurd. The tactics of the "evil industry," as she called it, aimed at undermining countries' efforts to implement tobacco control legislations were illustrated with concrete country examples at a side event during the week.
The question of the use of material in the public domain for the inspiration of new works has been complicated in South Africa by legislation which purports to grant retrospective perpetual protection to so-called “traditional works”. A case pending in the South African High Court highlights the question of what is “traditional” and raises the question of to whom music companies will have to look in the future to obtain permission to use anything that smacks of a traditional flavour. Prof. Owen Dean asks: Could this be a disincentive to use traditional material belonging in the public domain and thus slow cultural expression?
The United States and China will hold early next week what is becoming the largest bilateral programme between their courts in the area of intellectual property adjudication. Set to gather more than a thousand participants, the discussions will largely revolve around patent litigation, according to a top US judge.