Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A wide array of music industry groups, from Christian to classical, rhythm & blues to movie soundtracks, and everything in between sent a letter to United States President-Elect Donald Trump urging him to take their intellectual property rights into consideration…
The International Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business organisation, today was granted observer status at the United Nations General Assembly, given business a direct voice in the UN system for the first time ever, the ICC announced.
The United Nations Economic, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has released a report on encryption, taking the perspective of human rights.
The European Commission and the Canadian government today and tomorrow are hosting a first meeting for talks on a new multilateral investment court. Such a court could, the European Commission explained in an announcement, become the follow-up mechanism for the existing investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions that are part of 3,200 bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements around the world.
The first edition of the renewed Internet Governance Forum (IGF) last week tried its all not to become just another internet governance conference, with new formats and the taking on of one big topic that so far had evaded the “multi-stakeholder” approach: trade negotiations. But it also angered some by making its big dinner an invitation-only event, for governments and friends.
The annual “Intellectual Property Statistics for Decision Makers Conference” took place in Sydney, Australia on 15-16 November. After Vienna last year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as the key initiator organised the landmark forum this time with the Australian Government through its national intellectual property office, IP Australia. In this environment where the Australian economy could recently mark its 25 years of continuous growth and where the government just launched a new “National Innovation and Science Agenda” in the form of a new tax reform package, we could follow panel discussions and speeches about how empirical evidence can be gained for innovation.
According to the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies, the proposed European Commission copyright reform is detrimental to authors' interests, and contrary to the objective of creating a single digital market.
The much-awaited decision of the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body on Australia’s law requiring that tobacco products be sold in plain packages, challenged by four countries, has been postponed and is now expected "not before May 2017."
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World Intellectual Property Organization delegates last week agreed on a revised set of draft articles to be further discussed at the next session of the committee working on a potential treaty to protect traditional knowledge. Views differed on the achievements of the week. For the proponents of a binding treaty, the text reflects a better understanding of issues, and some reduction in differences. However, for some developed countries not in favour of a treaty, gaps are still wide open and much work remains.