Original news and analysis on international IP policy
After the thirteenth quadrennial session of the United Nations body focusing on trade and development, which was to set its mandate for the next four years, delegates reached consensus and avoided major pitfalls, according to several developed and developing country sources. The governments also worked out differences on UNCTAD’s mandate for work on intellectual property rights.
The World Trade Organization this week celebrated 15 years of a tariff-cutting agreement on information technology products, and issued a publication charting the history of the agreement. Industry representatives invited to a symposium joined voices asking that the agreement be expanded, while some called for strategies to incorporate development into technology trade promotion. And a link was made between the agreement and a rise in patents on technology.
The information and communications technology (ICT) for development community is meeting in Geneva this week for a series of conferences on the 2003-2005 World Summit on the Information Society. Government stakeholders, civil society, and the private sector will evaluate progress towards meeting the goals set at the last WSIS in Tunis in 2005 and establish new common goals looking beyond 2015.
The Republic of Korea has opened its fourth satellite copyright office, in the Philippines, in a bid to protect its copyrighted works amid the popularity of Korean entertainment in this Southeast Asian nation.
The European Court of Justice recently reaffirmed the limits of copyright protection in computer software.
In what could be compared to an obstacle course, World Intellectual Property Organization members agreed late at night yesterday on the future work of a committee working on the development dimension of the organisation's activities.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) has released a policy brief in support of the proposed R&D convention to be considered at the upcoming World Health Assembly.
Washington, DC – Wary eyes are on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which on 12 January opened a first window for applications for new generic top level domains (gTLDs), expected to be made public later this month.
A senior official at the World Intellectual Property Organization recently sent an internal letter to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry announcing that he would be undertaking a fast, depriving himself of food during a period of reflection in protest of his treatment as staff after more than two decades there. And while the complaint is a personal one, the official’s letter brings attention to the sometimes uncomfortable strategic realignment taking place at the UN agency.
Switzerland has postponed signature of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) until it has more information from several ongoing processes in Europe, the government said yesterday.
With the launch of a new report concerning research and development for diseases predominately afflicting developing countries, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) today convened a panel of public health specialists to discuss the findings.
In this post, three US law professors explain a recent call by over 30 legal scholars for the US Trade Representative to increase transparency for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement intellectual property chapter, and their response to Ambassador Kirk’s response that he is “strongly offended” by the suggestion that the negotiation is not adequately transparent already.