Original news and analysis on international IP policy
An Argentinean philosophy professor is being sued for alleged copyright infringement for posting translated versions of French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s works on a website, according to the Copy South Research Group. The case is bringing international attention to the limitations on access to education brought about by copyright.
World Intellectual Property Organization members on Friday overcame anxiety about overreaching of the UN body and agreed to study the Patent Cooperation Treaty, including proposals aimed at improving the efficiency and implementation of the treaty, taking into account some members’ concerns.
A new study shows a copyright exception for legalising file-sharing is feasible, as a cease-fire in the “war on copying” emerges. A new social contract between creatives and society is needed, says media sociologist Volker Grassmuck.
A United States federal court recently gave some bad news to the US government and many foreign copyright owners - including the estates of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Dmitry Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, and Igor Stravinsky. The court struck down a US statute which had restored copyright protection to the works of these foreign authors. By limiting copyright restoration, the ruling might prevent the US from fulfilling its obligations under the Berne Convention and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
PRAGUE - The current revolution in science and information was the topic of this year’s European Patent Forum, which brought together examiners, lawyers, policymakers and other patent professionals to discuss how the pace of the patent system can mesh with today’s whirlwind of technological change.
Meanwhile, European Patent Office (EPO) President Alison Brimelow informed her staff that she will “not be seeking extension” when her current three-year contract is up at the end of June 2010.
The public domain is key to the promotion of innovation and should be fostered, but international intellectual property policies may hinder that process, said speakers at a side event to the last week’s meeting of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property. Limitations and exceptions to copyright should be expanded and made mandatory, policymaking should be based on evidence and the public domain should be clearly defined and listed internationally, they said.
RIO DE JANEIRO - The interaction between pharmaceutical companies and physicians has been discussed intensely in the last three years in Brazil, and recently has come under heightened scrutiny.
The recent commem-oration of Earth Day and World IP Day raised the importance of IP rights to innovation and jobs, says David Hirschmann of the US Chamber of Commerce. How about calling it “Green Innovation Week”?
The EU Parliament on Wednesday underlined its position that any limitations of the fundamental right of access to information is subject to a prior check by a judge. By voting for amendment No. 138/46 in the report of French Socialist…
Behind the day-to-day policy and technical work at the World Intellectual Property Organization, member governments' lobbying of new Director General Francis Gurry to obtain top positions for national officials at WIPO has been intensive in recent weeks and is near conclusion, according to sources. Among the pack of possible names is a recent former director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, according to sources.
If the United States enacts reform of its patent law, S 515, this year as proposed, it would cut discretionary spending by US$173 million over the period 2010-2014, according to a 30 April US Congressional Budget Office cost estimate. This…
The secretariat of the World Intellectual Property Organization is working this week to gain support for a proposal to get countries to better implement the UN organisation’s core revenue-generating instrument, the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). But some developing countries are wary of the proposed changes, even as the United States is calling for a new PCT.