Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee today cancelled its briefing on computer equipment shipments to Iran and North Korea authorised by the World Intellectual Property Organization. The committee took the action after WIPO Director General Francis Gurry blocked two senior staff from participating in the meeting.
In the midst of negotiations in the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee, Intellectual Property Watch caught up with WIPO Director General Francis Gurry on 20 July to discuss his vision and priorities for the organisation. Gurry, who took office in 2008 for a six-year term, spoke about rulemaking negotiations, popular IP infrastructure programmes, the coming explosion in trademark law, and calculating the organisation’s development expenditures.
The European Commission (EC) announced today that it would begin a period of public consultation on the subject of internet neutrality.
The World Intellectual Property Organization official who informed the US House Foreign Affairs Committee of WIPO shipments of computers to Iran and North Korea will testify before the committee on Tuesday.
World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry today said the UN agency has cut off its programme of providing computer equipment to countries in order to eliminate doubts in “certain countries” about the programme as it relates to Iran and North Korea, and said he is moving swiftly to establish an independent review. He also said that he would authorise any WIPO official with competence for the programme to testify about it if asked.
The World Intellectual Property Organization today announced a new policy for dealing with countries sanctioned under the United Nations and has discontinued the provision of computer hardware to countries such as North Korea and Iran. It said its past assistance is being reviewed by relevant UN sanctions committees, but that it believes it was not in violation.
A new system to more effectively licence technology and facilitate the trading of intellectual property rights will come online later this year - and an increasing number of countries are taking notice.
The Dominican Republic, a strong tobacco producer, today notified the World Trade Organization that it has launched a dispute settlement case against Australia over its new law requiring tobacco to be sold in plain packaging in order to discourage its use for public health reasons.
The UN International Telecommunication Union will publish the draft document for the future International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) and open a website for public comments on the much-debated document. But some hoped for more.
The Mexican Intellectual Property Office (IMPI) last week announced that the Mexican Ambassador in Japan had signed the much debated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Now it thinks it can persuade the country's new Senate to pass it.
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee addressing protection of traditional cultural expressions (folklore) concluded a weeklong meeting today with progress on a draft text but doubts about moving to a high-level diplomatic conference in 2013, according to participants. The issue now moves to the annual WIPO General Assembly in October, where some said the debate may become more heated.
After a late start, delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization today are trying to make up for lost time in an attempt to draft a potential treaty text to protect traditional cultural expressions on the last day of a weeklong meeting. The first revision of draft articles was issued yesterday at the end of the afternoon. The status of Indigenous Peoples was also examined by delegates the day before without much interest.