Original news and analysis on international IP policy
An independent review of how the World Intellectual Property Organization is implementing the recommendations of its Development Agenda is ongoing. A survey is expected to be sent soon to WIPO members as well as international organisations and nongovernmental organisations participating in the WIPO Committee on Development and IP (CDIP).
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Amid concerns over cheap imports, substandard products and counterfeits, pharmaceutical experts in East Africa are set to hold a summit early next year to discuss key challenges facing the industry in the region. Experts at the event announcement in Nairobi today stressed that technology transfer, better regulation and policy reforms can accelerate growth and spur innovation in the sector.
Former World Intellectual Property Organization Deputy Director General Geoffrey Onyeama has been named the new minister of foreign affairs of Nigeria. And according to Nigerian press reports, he plans to use IP and innovation to help Nigeria's economy, and plans to support the new government's high-profile efforts against corruption.
A cybersquatter based in Indonesia who created a website falsely using the Electronic Frontier Foundation name but offering malware did so in bad faith and with malicious intent, a World Intellectual Property Organization panellist has found.
Last month, the World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property was suspended over two contentious items. One item left open is the proposed extension of a moratorium which leaves intellectual property outside of a mechanism through which one WTO member can go after another despite no violation of a WTO agreement. According to sources, a solution might be within reach.
The draft text of a treaty to help international designers apply for protection has been on the table at the World Intellectual Property Organization for some time, and has been under discussion again this week. Two questions have prevented its completion. One is whether technical assistance for developing countries should be part of the text, and the other is how to accommodate a request for a provision allowing countries to ask for disclosure of the origin of the design, to prevent misappropriation.
European reproduction schemes for compensating authors don't cover publishers, the European Court of Justice said in a 12 November judgment in Hewlett-Packard Belgium SPRL v. Reprobel SCRL and Epson Europe BV.
This week the World Health Organization member state mechanism on falsified medicines is meeting in Geneva with a long agenda. In particular, the meeting is expected to consider a process for the mechanism review, the participation of the WHO in a global committee on the quality of health products, and several proposals including tracking systems and awareness campaigns.
Ten years after feeble beginnings, the Internet Governance Forum, once the baby of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), stood last week in Joao Pessoa. But in all these years, did it also learn to walk? The IGF is more popular than ever but also perhaps more inadequate than ever at containing and advancing the many views and concerns that are raised there by a multitude of global stakeholders.
Delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and IP (CDIP) ended a weeklong session agreeing on a programme of work for the next session including two future projects to be reconsidered. But this belies the degree of stasis and frustration in the committee.
Consensus emerged among a panel of top economists last week at the World Intellectual Property Organization that as economies become increasingly intangible they are more susceptible to repercussions on growth caused by a financial crisis. Yet the shift towards a knowledge economy brings with it promise of increased economic growth in the long term, they said.
The controversial issue of geographical indications returns to the World Intellectual Property Organization stage this week, as the WIPO trademark committee is expected to consider a new document put forward by the United States, and a proposal from France. The meeting comes just weeks after GIs dominated the annual WIPO General Assembly, nearly leading to suspension of the UN agency’s budget before an all-night session ended in agreement there.
Also on the agenda next week is a potential treaty on industrial designs that could be on its way to a final treaty negotiation (diplomatic conference) in 2017.