Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Negotiating partners today released the final text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) after another week of what they called “legal scrubbing” which in fitting form was once again was performed behind closed doors, this time in Sydney.
This week the World Trade Organization is convening informal consultations on an international register for geographical indications on wines and spirits, as part of a "final countdown" intensification process for the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks.
Delegates this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization are continuing text-based discussions on a legal instrument for traditional knowledge, genetic resources and traditional cultural expressions. This week’s meeting is expected to be a stage-setter for the coming year, considered a key one in the ongoing efforts to solve global biopiracy concerns.
The most recent outbreak of pandemic influenza was mild, but the World Health Organization is still working on a plan of what to do should another, more severe outbreak ever occur. States will come together this month in another attempt to finalise this plan.
Global talks to address climate change being held in Cancun hobbled along last week amid calls for flexibility among parties. Japan declared its opposition to an extension of the Kyoto Protocol setting binding targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, civil society worried about transparency in the negotiating process, as countries started negotiations on specific texts.
Development Agenda coordination again topped the agenda this week at the latest World Intellectual Property Organization meeting - this time, in the Advisory Committee on Enforcement. Also causing discussion was how to proceed with the group's work programme, as seven governments made different suggestions for future topics.
This year marks the first time a website address may exist fully in Chinese, Russian, Arabic, or other non-Latin scripts. Ten years from now, the percentage of English content could easily drop below 25 percent. But there are still obstacles to this linguistically local revolution, writes John Yunker.
The global patent system is intended to promote innovation and increase growth, but this might not always be the case, as it might only serve industries relying heavily on patents in advanced economies, according to a study on patents and manufacturing industries presented at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week.
Canada's Parliament has the power to save lives of millions afflicted with HIV around the world if they will act to ease intellectual property-related restrictions on their access to medicines, Canadian civil society groups said today.
The end of the year is bringing many changes in intellectual property-related policy offices in Geneva and the capitals. Some of these changes include top offices at the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Health Organization, South African government, United States government, and a global internet body. Intellectual Property Watch Subscribers can read the details here.
In a move aimed to protect domestic intellectual property rights, the United States Justice Department today announced the suspension of 82 internet domain names on suspicion of selling counterfeit sports equipment, clothes and DVDs, music and software. But some used the opportunity to engage in scaremongering such as safety of families from harmful counterfeits, though none of the products involved appeared to fit that fear.
Today in Cancun, Mexico, the United Nations climate change conference opened with hopes of finding consensual solutions for the global environmental threat and its consequences. After the disappointing results of last year’s conference in Copenhagen, echoes of uncertainty on the outcome of the Cancun conference are being heard from many sides.