Category IP Policies

Librarians, Archivists, Call On WIPO Members To Create Safe Harbour Against Copyright Liability

The age of digitisation has opened new doors to distribution of information including for libraries and archives. However, librarians and archivists are often confronted with risk of liability for copyright infringement, nationally and in cross-border activities. This week, they asked the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee to provide them not only with some exceptions to copyright, but with protection against liability.

Online Enforcement Index Aims To Aid Patent Filing Decisions

Part of the decision whether to file a patent in a particular country rests on how likely it is the patent can be effectively enforced, but until recently the information needed to answer that question was mostly anecdotal, Nikolaos Papageorgiadis, University of Liverpool Management School (UK) international business lecturer, said at a webinar. To remedy that, he and Cranfield School of Management Economic Policy, Sustainability and Performance Reader Konstantinos Alexiou created the Index Of Patent Systems Strength, which ranks the effectiveness and efficiency of the patent systems of 49 countries.

Message To WIPO: Here’s The Assistance We African Inventors Really Need

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Patent protection is a challenge to many an inventor in developing countries. Inventors in most African countries, for instance, are compelled to surmount huge obstacles to protect their inventions. In order to remedy the situation, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in collaboration with the World Economic Forum has launched an Inventor Assistance Programme (IAP). Now, the local inventor community in Kenya has a few words for WIPO on how to expand the programme to make it more effective on the ground. Trust is one of them.

WIPO To Use Creative Commons Licences For All Of Its Publications

The UN World Intellectual Property Organization, the foremost international body for intellectual property rights, today announced that it will make all of its publications available under Creative Commons licences - which said it helped to develop along with other organisations. The move, made along with a wide range of other major international organisations, is an effort to make its publications as widely accessible as possible, an indirect nod to the limiting nature of copyright.

New Alliance To Hold UN And Others Accountable For Antimicrobial Resistance Commitments

A new international alliance to support the United Nations Resolution on Antimicrobial Resistance was launched this week. The Conscience of Antimicrobial Resistance Accountability (CARA) aims to bring together organisations committing to reporting on mutually agreed upon indicators in countries around the world, and to hold the UN and other stakeholders accountable to their commitments.

Panel Explores Relation Between Plant Breeders’ Convention And Plant Treaty

When countries belong to several international instruments, some aspects of those instruments may run contradictory to one another. A symposium held recently by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) sought to explore the interrelations between the convention and the international treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Farmers' rights lie at the intersection of the two treaties and while some find the treaties complementary, some others view them as contradictory on farmers' rights. Meanwhile, farmers themselves have been blocked from participating in deliberations.

Outgoing USPTO Director Lee Sees Legislative Changes On IP In Next Administration, Congress

Now in her final weeks in office [Update: she has continued in the role under President Trump], United States Patent and Trademark Office Director Michelle Lee today looked back over the Obama administration's work on patents and made predictions for the next administration due to take over in January. She hailed the outgoing administration's successes and said to expect a continued focus on a strong IP system, legislative changes on hot button issues but not right away, and continued engagement around the world.

Countries Asked To Revise IP Laws Preventing Implementation Of Farmers’ Rights

A global consultation on farmers’ rights recently co-organised by Indonesia and Norway provided recommendations to the international plant treaty, calling for the establishment of an ad hoc working group on farmers’ rights. They also recommended that contracting parties of the treaty revise their intellectual property laws and other legislation that may create obstacles for the realisation of farmers’ rights.