Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A mere “affirmation of commitments” (AoC) between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the United States Department of Commerce has replaced the decade-old joint project agreement in place in different forms since ICANN started technical coordination of names and numbers on the net in 1998.
Failure to resolve the deadlock over traditional knowledge at the World Intellectual Property Organization would call into question the organisation’s role, some member states said this week, as the chair of the General Assemblies tabled a text in an attempt to bridge major gaps that still remain. Meanwhile, the organisation adopted a commitment to approve the availability of documents in all its languages.
BANGKOK – Government officials and private stakeholders were urged Monday to strike differences from the 280 pages of negotiating text in preparing a draft that could become a global agreement on climate change in December 2009.
How to handle the deadlocked negotiations on traditional knowledge remains a sticky decision at this year’s World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies, with four proposals on the table and informal meetings ongoing in advance of a formal discussion next week. Meanwhile, WIPO member governments this week agreed to fund a CHF64.2 million franc WIPO conference centre aimed for late 2012.
The World Intellectual Property Organization must be able to set norms for innovation, from the latest development in technology to traditional knowledge systems, if it is to retain its relevance in policymaking, said its director general at the opening of the UN agency's annual General Assemblies today.
A key decision on WIPO’s agenda this week is the future of its committee on the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources, where agreement has proved unreachable over the last year.
Improved searches and application quality and a focus on backlog reduction are necessary to improve the patent system, patent authorities concluded at a World Intellectual Property Organization symposium last week. This will require patent offices around the world to work together, and the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty, most speakers said, is the path forward for global patent coordination.
Several strategy papers laying out a plan to aid European Union member states in responding to the pandemic outbreak of H1N1 influenza were published last week by the European Commission, as Europe enters its fall flu season. Meanwhile, a partnership between the Commission and the European pharmaceutical industry announced a second call for proposals, aimed at increasing research and development of medicines for cancer as well as infectious disease.
World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry was accompanied publicly for the first time by the United Nations agency’s first economist as they presented data Friday showing the positive correlation between patent applications and economic cycles.
Stakeholders gathered this week to discuss a European approach to the governance of the internet in the lead-up to the next global forum on the issue.
The second European Dialogue on Internet Governance (EuroDIG) took place in Geneva on 14-15 September and brought together some 200 representatives.
The European Patent Office today announced four people in the running to replace its current president, Alison Brimelow, who is not seeking another term after hers expires on 30 June 2010.