Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By John T. Aquino for Intellectual Property Watch The past few weeks have witnessed the evolution of the world of user-upload sites. MySpace.com and YouTube.com were once youthful rebels – their founders were young, their audience was predominantly under 30.…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen [Editor’s Note, 12 October: Parliament passed the resolution, with amendments, according to informed sources. Details to follow soon.] Members of the European Parliament will vote on 12 October on a resolution that would give the…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch European copyright owners’ organisations, consumer groups and artists’ collecting societies voiced strong differences of opinion on the importance of, and need for, digital rights management (DRM) systems to spur development of Internet content…
New Negotiators In Geneva: European Commission Expert on GIs, Indian Official on Biodiversity. Also, The World's Top 50 IP People, new names at WIPO and the NGOs, and more. In the IP-Watch People News.
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Developing countries say they will push their proposal on biodiversity and the European Union is sharply stepping up its call for enforcement, but otherwise the preliminary agenda of an upcoming World Trade Organization meeting on…
Niels Louwaars writes: Biotech companies, particularly those based in the United States consider that their patents on plant biotech inventions do not allow the use of the plants containing the invention as a source for further breeding, even if the…
By William New The 2006 annual assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization ended on 3 October with a somewhat rare spirit of cooperation and some stiff reminders about the policy and administrative work to be done in the coming…
Perhaps the biggest lobbying effort in the history of the European Union came in the 2005 fight to change the European patent system to include computer-related inventions, which ended in failure. Now, industry lobbyists are looking for new ways to…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The World Health Organization will organise public consultations for non-governmental stakeholders on a global public health and intellectual property working group most likely in November, according to a senior official. Meetings are being actively held…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The implementation process of global intellectual property rules was debated at a recent World Trade Organization public forum, which focused on the overall future of the organisation. According to the WTO, the 25-26 September forum…
By William New The World Intellectual Property Organization has negotiated cooperation agreements with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and is seeking approval of its member countries at this week’s annual General Assembly.…
By William New Government negotiators at the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly have reached tentative agreement on the future of a proposed agenda for development, and for discussing global patent harmonisation. But key hurdles remain for a proposal to…