Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Public Knowledge, a Washington, DC-based public interest group, has launched an initiative that capitalises on active participation from American online and social media users to lobby for the adoption of some reforms in internet governance aimed at protecting knowledge access.
The global business community this week re-committed its support to governments in multilateral trade negotiations in the hopes of overcoming the Doha Round stalemate. Business and trade experts from more than 20 countries gathered at the World Trade Organization for a first conference bringing private sector perspectives to international trade.
In passing a comprehensive Internet Governance Strategy, the Council of Europe (CoE) today laid claim to a front runner position in the human rights dialogue for the internet.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are working to stage a diplomatic conference on the adoption of a new industrial design treaty at the earliest opportunity. The treaty, at the minimum, could harmonise certain aspects in design law, an area in intellectual property marked by stark differences in national procedures.
All the experts agree: US copyright law doesn’t apply outside US borders. But try telling that to Kim Dotcom, Aubrey Canning, or the growing number of other foreigners whose activities outside the United States have resulted in sanctions under US copyright law.
The Free University of Brussels has set out to map predominant normative and causal beliefs regarding IP laws and policies. To give your input and participate in the survey, click on www.surveymonkey.com/s/IP_Community.
Operators and internet service providers in Europe resort mostly to blocking voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) and peer-to-peer traffics to guard the security of and prevent congestion on their networks, according to a preliminary report from the European Union telecommunications regulator, the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC).
US President Barack Obama wants the country’s Justice Department to get by with a bit less money next fiscal year – but not when it comes to prosecuting overseas infringers of American IP rights.
Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla opened the 43rd meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in San Jose with concern about “attempts to regulate the network among which we have the Stop Online Piracy Act seeking protection of intellectual property by restrictions on the addressing and the Protect intellectual Property Act seeking to extend some national jurisdiction towards the entire cyberspace.”
A new paper from a Yale Law lecturer has outlined some general principles that governments must consider when imposing liability for internet intermediaries amid the lack of an international law covering online third-party liability.
The District Court of Berlin, Germany, yesterday ruled that user rights were violated by several parts of social media site Facebook's general terms and conditions and by its "friendfinder" feature. With regard to copyright law, the automatic worldwide exploitation right granted by users clicking off the terms and conditions was invalid, the court ruled.
A recent study has proposed at least two measures to address the gnawing problems in Europe's copyright levy system, which is being implemented differently in 22 countries in the region.