Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By William New Over the past 24 years, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Kamil Idris repeatedly signed official documents showing his birth date to be nine years earlier than it is, and may have moved up the ranks at…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen This week’s meeting on a World Intellectual Property Organization Development Agenda started on a positive note, with member states agreeing to base negotiations on a text prepared for the meeting by the WIPO General Assembly…
By William New A key member of the international intellectual property community has been asked to leave his position without warning, prompting questions about the terms of his departure, according to sources. Sisule Musungu, a recognised IP expert who has…
The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Reporter features the most important news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the IP community at the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Geneva missions, regional and national IP…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Members of a 13 February World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting on intellectual property rights, signalled that consultations on IP issues will be stepped up in the coming weeks as part of the overall revival in…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch AMSTERDAM – The current scheme for clearing broadcast retransmission rights harms cable operators and should be revamped, speakers said at this week’s Cable Europe 07 conference in Amsterdam. An alternative to collective rights…
By William New A record number of applications for international patents were filed in 2006, and Asian economies are leading the rapid growth, officials from the World Intellectual Property Organization said on 7 February. “There is still growth in the…
By John T. Aquino for Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON, DC – That the US movie industry’s intellectual property is essential for the economic well-being of the industry and the nation was one of two major themes in the Motion Picture…
By William New The proposed fiscal year 2008 budget for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) would maintain agency efforts to increase international protection and enforcement of US patents and trademarks, according to a copy of the budget…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A recent top-level meeting of the World Health Organization discussed member states’ rights to address malaria using flexibilities in international trade and intellectual property law. But there was strong disagreement as to how far this…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A proposal at the World Health Organization (WHO) for early gains on a global plan for improving treatments for overlooked diseases has been tabled at a high-level meeting this week. Intellectual property rules are among…
By William New World Intellectual Property Organization officials negotiating this week on how to improve broadcasters’ and cablecasters’ ability to protect their signals have attempted to move into a deeper debate using an informal chair’s text of a draft treaty.…