Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The French Constitutional Council yesterday gave its ruling about the constitutionality of a French bill aiming to protect literary and artistic intellectual property rights online, and decided that the bill was in conformity with the French Constitution, asking only for…
The European Commission on 22 October published a “reflection paper,” available here (pdf), highlighting the challenges of creating a European digital single market for creative content, according to a press release. The paper was released at the same time as…
A forum called the Intellectual Property Colloquium has posted an open-access podcast of a discussion about online business models with Brad Smith, Microsoft general counsel, Scott Martin, executive vice president of Paramount Pictures, and Dan Cooper, vice president of business…
The European Commission on 19 October published a communication on copyright in the knowledge economy that sets out the plan for changes in European copyright over the coming month and in 2010. Three issues the Directorate General Internal Market and…
Can a patent-holder ask for royalties from third-party purchasers? The United States Supreme Court said ‘no’ in the 2008 landmark case Quanta Computer Inc. v. LG Electronics Inc. (IPW, US Policy, 25 June 2008). But what does this decision mean…
Director General Pascal Lamy of the World Trade Organization reported today to member states on his most recent consultations on outstanding issues of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). He was speaking in his capacity as…
A pilot project intended to counter the challenge of counterfeit medicines entering the legitimate supply chain has been launched this week in Sweden by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. The project involves individually identifying packs of medicine…
In a “turn back the clock” action, the German Liberal Party (FDP) – which is negotiating with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU) on the programme of the coalition government – is pushing a suspension of the blocking bill…
In the weeks leading up to the next negotiating session (first week of November in Seoul) of the secretive Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, 42 Washington, DC-area insiders, mostly from industry, were invited by the United States Trade Representatives to see copies…
The next meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore will be from 7-11 December. The draft agenda is online and available here. The committee recently received its strongest…
Governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations have been called on by a meeting of international leaders to “take full measure of the public health and public safety stakes linked to the scourge of counterfeit medication and to decide at the…
While the French Constitutional Council is considering the constitutionality of the rabble-rouser HADOPI 2 law (IPW, Coopyright policy, 2 October 2009), pushed by the French government to authorise legal authorities to suspend internet access of alleged copyright infringers, French President…