Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Discussions are heating up as never before on Brazil's copyright reform, and controversies involving the new administration as well as the collecting society (ECAD)'s alleged wrongdoings are jeopardising the last eight years of Lula's administration, according to an updated timeline and analysis by Pedro Paranaguá.
The protection of genetic resources from misappropriation, institutionalised in October 2010 by the Nagoya Protocol, is getting nearer to realisation as eight new countries ratified the protocol yesterday.
The international seed treaty has launched a capacity building campaign under the form of educational modules to help a range of stakeholders better understand the treaty and its implementation.
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates negotiating this week for a possible agreement on protection of traditional knowledge have advanced the text from which they are working, according to a copy obtained by Intellectual Property Watch. Meanwhile, the brand-name pharmaceutical industry sought to explain an alleged biopiracy case at a side event at WIPO today.
According to European Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht, there are still thorny issues on the table in the ongoing EU-India free trade agreement talks, including intellectual property issues.
Although indigenous peoples’ rights are recognised in a number of international declarations, the implementation of those rights is difficult to achieve, according to panellists at an event opening this week’s World Intellectual Property Organization negotiations toward a treaty to protect traditional knowledge, folklore and genetic resources.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is open for interpretation, perhaps too much so, legal experts on both sites of the Atlantic are warning.
Developing countries are not taking advantage of discoveries made by their scientists and researchers because they lack an appropriate intellectual property infrastructure and expertise, according to a long-time United States proponent of IP rights speaking in Geneva last week. He called for development funds to be redirected to address these shortcomings rather than only supporting IP enforcement initiatives.
Patent offices in developed and developing countries answered a call from the Japan Patent Office for “bail-out measures” for Japanese patent applicants who were affected by the tsunami on 11 March.
The United States recently changed one important aspect of enforcing patent rights. Patent owners who wish to use contempt proceedings to stop adjudged infringers from committing additional infringements must comply with the new standards laid down in TiVo Inc. v. EchoStar Corp. The decision, which brings US law closer to that of European countries, makes it easier for patentees to bring contempt actions, but may sometimes make it harder to win these actions.
Access to essential medicines in least developed countries (LDCs) could be facilitated through local production, according to a report released today by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee in charge of overseeing the implementation of the organisation’s cornerstone Development Agenda, ended abruptly when the session was suspended after a strong disagreement over a development project.