Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today approved the Applicant Guidebook for new generic top-level domains, opening the door to potentially hundreds of new internet domains, like .africa, .music, .gay or .nyc.
A US judge ruled yesterday that copyright “troll” Righthaven lacked legal authorisation to bring an infringement lawsuit because it did not have ownership of the copyright in question, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The case could have an impact on the future prospects of so-called copyright troll cases, EFF said.
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck will donate its entire library of natural products to the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research along with a grant, the institute announced this week. The library, one of the world's largest, will be open for researchers around the world.
A new fund has been established to help developing countries ratify and implement the Nagoya protocol on access and benefit sharing, the UN Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) said last week.
Consumers International today invited comments and proposals for a set of proposed amendments to include access to knowledge standards in the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection.
Negotiators at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva will have a new conference hall in which to debate in 2013, with construction starting this summer, according to a press release.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) signed an agreement with pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi on 30 May for a three-year research project on nine neglected tropical diseases that will come with intellectual property rights on research results for both sides, according to a press release from the international organisation in Switzerland.
The World Health Organization Executive Board last week requested more details on the organisation's planned reform and established a consultative process for the reform, according to sources.
A new "final" text of the secretive but potent Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been published by the European Commission, according to the Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure (FFII).
Betty King, United States Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, has declared US support for a multilateral system of internet governance and an open internet.