Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The countries that own most of the world’s intellectual property rights have all but completed an agreement among themselves that raises the level of protection of those rights while appearing to reduce obligations placed on rights holders. Now they’ll need to find ways to apply it to the countries of the world seen as responsible for much of the infringing material.
The Peer to Patent programme, a United States patent community review platform, has been expanded and re-launched with a new interface. The service seeks to help patent examiners search for prior art with the help of the public. The Peer…
The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Edition features top news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the international IP community, news briefs and more. The October edition is now available for subscribers at: http://www.ip-watch.org/user/newsletter.
A leading indigenous negotiator for a UN protocol on biodiversity access and benefit sharing says the process will likely yield a highly diluted, rights-poor protocol and that Indigenous Peoples' negotiating leverage is slipping.
Member states of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) today re-elected Hamadoun Touré of Mali as ITU Secretary-General of ITU for a second four-year term.
The latest draft text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has now been made public.
The latest text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) will be released at 4 in the afternoon, Central European Time, Intellectual Property Watch has just learned. It will be released online at the websites of the negotiating trade ministries. A…
The Internet Policy Task Force of the United States Commerce Department today issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) seeking comment from any interested stakeholders - including rights holders, internet service providers, and consumers - on the "protection of copyrighted works online and the relationship between copyright law and innovation in the internet economy."
The round of negotiations in Tokyo last week on the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) will be the last in the several-year long process to come to a final agreement, negotiators have said. The latest text - along with highlighted issue areas on which certain countries still have reservations - will be released before the end of the week, negotiators told Intellectual Property Watch.
The United States’ search for ways to spark its job growth has led to a focus on intellectual property rights, and this week several significant developments boiled over.
The United States National Institutes of Health has become the first patent holder to join the newly created Medicines Patent Pool, a project of drug purchasing mechanism UNITAID. Public health organisations hailed the move as key step in the right direction but said there is still much work to do.
Member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week set in motion negotiations that could lead to international treaties or other instruments on exceptions and limitations to copyright, the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore, and harmonisation of industrial design laws. Negotiations won’t be without difficulty, however.