Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Paul Garwood A World Trade Organization panel will formally investigate United States complaints that China has failed to adequately protect intellectual property rights on goods such as software and movies, a move criticised by Beijing. WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body…
The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Reporter features the most important news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the IP community at the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Geneva missions, regional and national IP…
By Paul Garwood
Ethiopia's victory to trademark its major coffee brands could earn the east African country more than US$100 million annually and increase incomes for hundreds of thousands involved in the industry, a negotiator for the Ethiopian government said Tuesday.
Ron Layton, chief executive of the Light Years IP non-governmental organisation, told a luncheon in Geneva that agreements ground out between Ethiopia and companies like Starbucks will allow the poverty-stricken country to benefit more from the speciality coffees it produces. There are still some who doubt that Ethiopia got the best deal, however.
By William New As delegates to the annual World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies work through questions of organisational leadership and credibility this week, they may be looking forward to a return to agenda items related to policy. And according…
By William New The member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization on Tuesday reached an agreement on how to address concerns raised about Director General Kamil Idris during this week’s annual General Assembly. According to participants, a broad agreement…
By William New The annual General Assemblies of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization member states snagged the first day on a proposed agenda to discuss potential wrongdoing by the WIPO director general. By day’s end, a high-level group formed…
By Paul Garwood Intellectual property can help improve public health, but drug research costs must be controlled so patients in poor countries can afford urgently needed medicines, a World Intellectual Property Organization symposium heard Wednesday. The Geneva-staged event, at which…
By William New Tensions are high at the World Intellectual Property Organization leading up to the annual General Assemblies next week with member states discussing the fate of the WIPO director general, who developed country member states claim has lost…
By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch BRUSSELS – Concern is growing in both Europe and developing countries about whether a series of free trade agreements slated for signature later this year will contain overly stringent rules on intellectual property.…
By Jia Hepeng for Intellectual Property Watch
BEIJING - China is proposing a fund to help its enterprises cope with rising international litigation related to intellectual property rights (IPRs).
The message, together with other measures, was delivered by Zhang Qin, deputy director of the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) at a national corporate IPR meeting on 2 September, but it was not made public until 10 September.
Sun Pingping, a spokeswoman of SIPO, confirmed the news, saying the scale and detailed operation of the fund have not been finalised.
Zhang told the corporate meeting that international legal cases on IP that Chinese enterprises face have been growing. While some of the lawsuits arise from Chinese enterprises' poor IPR awareness and ownership, it is possible that some multinationals are abusing IPR to block the rise of Chinese firms, he said.