Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Kamil Idris, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, has acted to correct his age as it is recorded at WIPO after 20 years, setting off speculation that he stands to gain handsomely from the change. In addition, some…
The powerful Programme and Budget Committee (PBC) of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week appears to be in agreement with WIPO management on several critical and previously contentious endeavours. At the sparsely attended first day of the 11-13 July…
BRUSSELS – The European Commission today fined Microsoft €280.5 million ($356.35 million) for failing to comply with a 2004 Commission request to provide documents that would make it easier for other companies to develop products that would be interoperable with…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Procedural questions could kill a proposed European Union directive aimed at fighting theft of products, patents and copyrights, after the Dutch Parliament raised jurisdictional objections last week. At issue is the planned EU…
The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Reporter features unique summaries of events, the latest on who is coming and going at the UN, WTO, Geneva missions, industry and NGOs, plus briefs on reports and events from the IP community. For this…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Should everybody who registers an Internet domain name be forced to publish his private address, email address and phone number on the Internet? A storm broke out over the question of the so-called…
A monopoly by a single pharmaceutical company on a new medicine for HIV/AIDS has limited access to the medicine to a select group of patients in developing countries, a non-profit group said today. The product is lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) and is…
With eight recently confirmed cases of avian influenza, Indonesia is scrambling to build up its stockpile of medicines. The preferred product to fight bird flu in humans is not under patent in Indonesia, which raises questions as to why production…
Intellectual Property Watch is happy to announce that Catherine Saez has joined the staff as Office Manager, with critical wide-ranging responsibilities including oversight of office functions, accounting, management of databases, outreach, and editorial contributions. She also will help with French-English…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Assistance on intellectual property rights from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is helpful to developing countries but more coordination and a “reality check” are needed, according to Geneva-based government officials. The remarks were made by developing country…
Key negotiators on intellectual property rights from the European Commission, Japan, and the United States have announced they will be leaving their Geneva posts this summer. The nations represented by these negotiators account for the vast majority of the world’s…
By William New and Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen After two week-long meetings and intensive consultations during the year, talks on bolstering the development perspective of the World Intellectual Property Organization ended today with no agreement, sending proposals back to the…