Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The European Union today said half of its productivity gains since 1995 have come from information and communications technology (ICT), and gave some signals about its digital agenda to the year 2020, as part of a broader plan to be…
World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy has answered a letter from members of the European Parliament asking that the WTO provide an “expert assessment and analysis of the current provision” of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) under negotiation. In…
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) has launched its “Developing World Health Partnerships Directory” for 2010. The directory details long-term (more than one year) public-private partnerships to improve health in developing countries. According to the report, available…
For the first time in the history of the internet, non-Latin top-level domains are available in the domain name system. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers yesterday concluded the process to insert Egypt: مصر (Egypt), Saudi Arabia: السعودية…
The Chennai Patent Office in India last week overturned the patent on Valganciclovir, an expensive drug used to prevent an infection to which people with HIV/AIDS or organ recipients are susceptible, an Indian lawyers’ group said today. The patent office…
A new economically driven effort called the Copyright for Creativity Initiative is advocating the harmonisation of copyright exceptions across Europe, and is calling on the European Commission to act upon its 2008 Green Paper “Copyright in the Knowledge Economy” [pdf].…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch All the “noble announcements” made by EU and US officials about respect for the Doha Declaration on intellectual property trade and public health when negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) does not match…
An annual report from the Office of the United States Trade Representative on how well it considers other countries to be protecting and enforcing American intellectual property rights is now available. The so-called Special 301 report can be read here…
The US Performance Rights Act got support from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California) and Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D, Illinois) last week. The Performance Rights Act seeks to equalise the rights to compensation between performers of sound…
Fifteen new Assistant US Attorneys and 20 new Special Agents at the US Federal Bureau of Investigation dedicated to combatting “domestic and international IP crimes” were announced yesterday. The new attorneys are a part of the US Justice Departments Computer…
On 20 April, Brazil and the United States signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) establishing a fund that “will transfer resources to benefit the cotton sector in Brazil,” according to a Brazilian government press release. The MOU is “part of…
United States Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Democrat, Montana) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (Republican, Iowa) this week requested a US government investigation of the effect of China’s IP rights infringement on American jobs. They allege China’s infringement is…