Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A new report released today shows how mobile technology has fundamentally transformed internet access and use. The report gives forecasts and makes recommendations for policymakers going forward. Among the findings is the rapid rise in dependence on apps, which can raise security, privacy, competition, and cost concerns, as well as issues of availability of locally relevant content online.
In the quest to find solutions to protect traditional knowledge and genetic resources from misappropriation, some countries have resorted to private databases to be used by patent examiners. Indigenous peoples are wary of the process primarily because they are not sure their knowledge will remain safe in those databases. Speakers at a World Intellectual Property Organization this week discussed the pros and cons of such defensive protection.
Experts at last week’s meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Buenos Aires reached a milestone with a final proposal from the ICANN working group for the transition of internet control away from the United States. But global governance without oversight remains difficult, as the ongoing review of the introduction of new generic top-level domains aptly illustrates.
The issue of genetic resources or traditional knowledge that are shared among different countries was discussed at a World Intellectual Property Organization seminar this week. Panellists presented national and regional efforts to protect such resources.
As prospective presidential candidates prepare to plunge voters in the United States into campaign purgatory, it is time for pundits to examine how candidates are branding their political campaigns and crafting their messages to appeal to the electoral audience. With the presidential race beginning to heat up, which candidate will seize the message that resonates most with American voters? And what will that message be?
Keen on maintaining momentum in the discussions on the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources, while the normative agenda on the issue is suspended, the World Intellectual Property Organization is holding a seminar on the subject this week.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), part of US President Barack Obama’s promised pivot to Asia, has stirred up a hornet’s nest on the ethics of trying to hammer out a trade deal in secrecy. But it is not the only one. A proposed trade agreement in Asia, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), is facing the same hiccups and flak.
Internet expert groups this week are being asked if they agree to a proposal prepared in thousands of hours of voluntary work to transition key elements of internet control away from the United States government. Meanwhile, the US confirmed that the process of transition will extend well beyond the target of September of this year, and some countries are deploring that the transition was not started with a “clean slate.”
Preparations for transitioning the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – with core elements of the global internet - out of United States oversight do not appear to on track for the 30 September deadline. As a result, cautious pressure is mounting from the internet protocol numbers administration and protocol standardisation bodies to consider at least a “phased implementation” of the transition.
A United Nations expert on freedom of expression this week has brought international attention to the need for individuals to be able to share completely encrypted, anonymous communications on the internet in order to preserve rights related to freedom of expression and opinion worldwide.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has initiated a programme of reaching out to stakeholders in developed countries with “roving seminars” on WIPO services and initiatives. The programme targets potential WIPO customers, promotes local IP services and offices, and promotes intellectual property protection.
In the landmark case of Delfi v. Estonia, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights today decided that news portals could be held liable for clearly unlawful content in third party postings.