Original news and analysis on international IP policy
More than five years since the last UN-led World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and less than five years before the 2015 target date of the Millennium Development Goals, experts and representatives of needy countries are in Geneva to assess how it is going. One thing they are being told: the price of information and communications technology services has dropped in the past two years.
A European Union-backed project organised a conference at the World Trade Organization last week to rally Africa to the cause of geographical indications.
Several large technology companies such as Microsoft and Sony Ericsson have filed applications at the European Trademark Office seeking to invalidate Apple’s obtained rights to the trademarks ‘App Store’ and ‘Appstore.’
Intellectual property rights holders, access to knowledge proponents, presumably online scam artists, and possibly governments and international organisations interested in internet governance heard the call of the introduction this week of the “Protect IP Act” in the US Senate. The bill is aimed at strengthening US law enforcement’s ability to stop international websites offering counterfeit goods or unauthorised copyrighted content.
The European Commission recently signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at boosting cooperation between rights holders and internet platforms in the fight against counterfeit products sold online.
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.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is open for interpretation, perhaps too much so, legal experts on both sites of the Atlantic are warning.
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.
US Assistant Secretary for Commerce Larry Strickling said yesterday the Obama administration expects all issues to be resolved before the internet is opened to a large number of new top-level domains. And he hinted that the US might reconsider the special role of the internet coordination body if it does not comply.
Government policymakers are stalling on trade liberalization while erecting new nontransparent trade barriers, writes Frederick Abbott.