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In five short years, Intellectual Property Watch has made its mark as the leading independent reporting service on international IP policymaking, respected for its timely and informed content by readers from international organizations, industry, NGOs, civil society, research centres, government, as well as academia. We have provoked debate, exposed controversies, and helped thousands to access a policy conversation long seen as highly technical and closed.

With dramatic shifts occurring in the field of IP and innovation policy and law, our reporting has never been more relevant. But to keep on providing the independent, open-access service that so many of you have come to rely upon, we need your help in the next 3 (THREE!) weeks. By late July, we need to make a decision about IP-Watch's future.

ACTA Negotiators Vow To Mesh With National-Level Rights; Withhold New Text

LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND - There was progress during the ninth round of negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) this week in Lucerne, negotiators said over the last day, and in their final press communiqué they made promises that “ACTA will not interfere with a signatory's ability to respect fundamental rights and liberties,” it would be consistent with World Trade Organization agreements and certainly “not hinder the cross-border transit of legitimate generic medicine.”

EPO, EU Presidencies Shift; Translation Plan Proposed

On 1 July, the same day the presidency of the European Patent Office (EPO) transferred to Benoît Battistelli and the EU presidency shifted from Spain to Belgium, the European Commission presented the EPO with a proposal on translation arrangements for…

ACTA Risks Long-Term Damage To Democratic Public Policymaking, NGOs Say

An agreement on international intellectual property rights enforcement now under negotiation in Lucerne, Switzerland runs the risk of ushering in a new and undemocratic precedent for international policymaking that could have long-term damaging effects on critical public policy issues, non-negotiating government representatives and civil society advocates said this week.

Scope Of Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement Again A Big Issue In Round Nine

MUNICH - The staid little Swiss town of Lucerne this week sees round number nine of the negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). While the 11 negotiating parties gather in the Palace Hotel, the Swiss Pirate Party together with their Pirate colleagues from Germany and Switzerland will organise a rally at the Lucerne train station.

.xxx Domain Appears Headed For Internet

A .xxx domain may finally go to the internet root after years of debate. The Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in their official meeting yesterday decided to restart negotations with .xxx applicant ICM registry…

Change At Top Of European Music Industry Group

The head of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is stepping down after five years in office, and his successor has been named from within the organisation. John Kennedy, chairman and CEO, said he was returning to a…