Category News

Review Of US Digital Millennium Copyright Act Brings New Exemptions

The United States Copyright Office this week completed its statutorily required review of the landmark Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Included in the ruling were three major exemptions: a renewal on the exemption for cell-phone unlocking, a new exemption for the jailbreaking of smart phones technology, and the use of visual media clips for transformative, non-commercial works. The ruling has resulted in a flood of optimism from a wide variety of non-governmental groups.

WIPO Sees First Real Progress In 10 Years On Text For Protection Of Folklore

Experts meeting last week at the World Intellectual Property Organization made the first real strides in over a decade at developing a concrete rules to protect the cultural expressions and folklore of indigenous and local communities.

International Experts See Backswing In Pendulum Of Biological Patenting

MUNICH – Some experts in Europe are coming to agreement that a tipping point might have been reached with regard to biological patents. At a conference organised this week by the “no patents on seeds” initiative on the eve of a public hearing of the European Patent Office on cases involving the patenting of broccoli and tomatoes, non-governmental representatives and farmers associations from Europe and elsewhere said there were detectable changes in American jurisprudence and European governments seem to be rethinking the biopatent issue.

Consensus On Binding Biodiversity Agreement Elusive, To Reconvene in September

A last-chance negotiation of a draft protocol text on biodiversity access and benefit-sharing has been given yet another chance as delegates parted ways on Friday in Montreal without an agreement but with a tentative plan to reconvene to try to tie it up before a major UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in October.

AIDS Conference Campaigns For International Focus, Funding and Research

The 18th International AIDS conference opened its doors in Vienna on Sunday with a purpose of keeping the HIV issue high among international priorities in the context of a global economic crisis, and to promote universal access to treatment.

Hopes Fading For Concluding Biodiversity Access And Benefit Sharing Negotiations?

The clock was ticking with only a day to go in this week’s meeting of a UN working group on biodiversity trying to reach an agreement on a draft protocol text on access and benefit-sharing.

OECD Sees New Angle On Innovation For Growth, Social Challenges

Innovation is a key factor in economic growth but is not only about research as it is a system with many different interacting parts including R&D as one of those elements, a senior developed nations group representative said this week. Governments need to promote policies that integrate the cross-cutting nature of innovation and favour evidence based decision making, he said.

US Rightsholders Seek Narrower Scope Of ACTA, Clarity On Trademark Infringement Vs. Counterfeiting

Many of the 11 negotiating partners of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) for years have underlined that the new anti-counterfeiting and anti-piracy agreement will not change their national laws, with the United States and the European Union especially firm on this point. Yet the Washington, DC-based Intellectual Property Owners' Association (IPO) in a recent letter, here,
to the US Trade Representative stated concern that ACTA “potentially change(s) United States law by transforming what are the commonly occurring non-counterfeit-types of civil action infringements into activity that is to be punished under federal criminal law.”

UN Biodiversity Talks Resume, Last Chance For Agreement Before October Deadline

The last chance to complete discussions and reach an agreement on a draft protocol text on access and benefit-sharing is given to member parties of the UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) next week. The protocol is intended to provide a new international tool for governments against piracy of genetic resources.

Monsanto Soybean Patent Cannot Stretch To Processed Soy Meal, European Court Says

Yesterday, the European Court of Justice ruled in a case pitching Monsanto against European importers of Argentinean soy meal, denying the US seed giant intellectual property rights over the exports of soy meal from Argentina to the European Union.