Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A World Intellectual Property Organization committee meeting this week to assess the development dimension of WIPO activities heard the progress report of the director general. Developing countries took the opportunity to claim that the mandate of the committee was not completed, in particular because the development dimension was kept out of two important WIPO bodies.
As World Intellectual Property Organization members engage this week in discussions about the extent of change to the UN agency’s development orientation, a new substantive proposal for reform has been put forward based on an external review of WIPO technical assistance.
Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) advises developing countries against signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, BMZ official Frank Schmiedchen said during a meeting of the Committee of Petitions of the German Parliament today.
The United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization is by its nature a crossroads of IP technical expertise and global public policy wrangling. But the difference between the two became more pronounced at last week’s meeting of the WIPO Standards Committee, according to participants.
It was a major legal battle between copyright owners and online businesses. Then, on 5 April, online businesses won. Mostly. The US appellate court ruling in Viacom International, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. basically upheld the legal protection that a key US statute grants to online firms. However, the ruling also opened several holes in that protection.
Eben Moglen, a professor of law and history at Columbia University, made a haunting appeal to participants of the 6th re:publica conference that opened in Berlin this morning: Do not to fail in completing the fight for freedom of thought.
Groups representing a range of music industry companies in the United States recently struck what they call an “historic” agreement on the tricky matter of mechanical royalty rates and standards in a digital age. Now, they are awaiting final approval on the agreement.
The United States Trade Representative’s office yesterday issued its annual report naming countries that it says are the biggest infringers of US intellectual property rights, among them some of the country’s biggest trading partners. Meanwhile, questions were raised about the close adherence to industry views in the report.
As the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) treaty comes under review, some observers are warning that it could change the rules of the game in internet governance. Others are trying to give reassurance that the new ITRs aim at enabling better access to telecommunications everywhere.
Opponents and proponents of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the European Parliament have positioned themselves in meetings of several committees preparing opinions.
In recent decades, far-reaching international cooperation has led to the development of global multistakeholder governance of the internet. While efforts to further enhance cooperative mechanisms are ongoing, one business leader with an inside track suggests that in a couple of decades, the internet will be governing itself.
Intellectual property rights have been around for centuries in some cultures, but in recent decades have taken off as a global set of rules, bringing with it many business opportunities and policy concerns. Today, on the annual day designated for the celebration of IP rights, some new industry and civil society initiatives were launched and several gatherings in praise of IP were held.