Original news and analysis on international IP policy
There was quite some controversy at the 3-4 March 2015 UNESCO Connecting the Dots Conference regarding whether or not the term “democracy” should be included in the conference’s outcome statement to make it clear that internet governance must be democratic.
Efforts to revamp protection for and enforcement of intellectual property rights in non-EU countries are welcome, but the European Commission should get Europe's IPR house in order first, a new draft report by the European Parliament International Trade (INTA) Committee says. Meanwhile, internal IPR reform is advancing on several fronts, said the EC, which gave Intellectual Property Watch an update on the various measures.
United States trade negotiators are seeking to set a "new regional standard" against intellectual property infringement in the Pacific region with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. And among the new tools it is seeking is to boost governments' ability to criminalise IP infringement based on government information as well as that of rights holders, a US trade official said this week.
A lot has happened among the global intellectual property community over the past months. Beyond the usual shifts in law offices, many key positions have either changed hands or been filled. For example, the European commissioners changed, and the United States nominated a new "piracy czar" and a new head of the US Patent and Trademark Office. The International Telecommunication Union, UNITAID and other organisations have new heads. And the World Intellectual Property Organization has a new top management team.
Non-governmental organisations and the private sector also saw a lot of movement in recent months, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the International Trademark Association, the International Publishers Association, and the Motion Picture Association of America.
In this article, we take the opportunity to catch up. Here is a look at some of the changes.
After a report by the Register's Kieren McCarthy on a postponement of the inaugural meeting of the NetMundial Initiative (NMI) Council discussions were revived over the need for the new body in several mailing lists.
The fifth annual Office of the United States Trade Representative review of “notorious” intellectual property infringing markets has been released, pointing out the world’s biggest problem commercial-scale markets. And for the first time, the report takes aim at internet domain name registrars.
Low levels of research and development in developing countries, human capital deficit and construction of balanced intellectual property systems were at the centre of discussions at the recent Expert Forum on Technology Transfer at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
PARIS – A recent gathering of IP owners, lawyers and government officials explored strategies and potential policies to fight counterfeiting and piracy.
For international trade, 2015 will be “a year of work” rather than of finalisation, as Viviane Reding put it. The comment of the former European Commission vice president and Justice Commissioner focussed on the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), as she is now the European Parliament's rapporteur for TISA. The services agreement is still sailing under the radar compared to its bigger cousins, the US-EU bilateral Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). Yet “a year of work” might well describe the 2015 agenda for the mega-regional trade negotiations too. Will any of them get to the finish line? A race is on in which the United States and European Union seem to anxiously look to China's advance while fighting rising opposition at home.
At today's meeting of the "trilateral offices" - the United States, Europe and Japan - Deputy Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office Michelle Lee gave an update of USPTO activities, including improvements in patent quality, patent pendency, and discussions about patent harmonisation.
On 28 January 2015, the Brazilian Ministry of Justice launched public consultations involving two key pieces of legislation, namely: the decree that will regulate the Marco Civil da Internet or the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet (the "Internet Legal Framework"); and the Draft Bill for the Protection of Personal Data ("Draft Bill"). A consultation period is being conducted in relation to these two laws via online platforms set up by the government.
BRUSSELS - In 2014, patent filings at the European Patent Office (EPO) reached an all-time high, as announced by EPO President Benoît Battistelli last week at the traditional Annual Results Press Conference. Among key patenting trends were figures revealing strong growth in filings from the United States and China.