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Internet Governance In 2012: Reaching New Heights Or Hitting A Wall

There will be more than 50 important meetings talking internet in 2012, and activists and government alike have started calling for streamlining or better cooperation and focus. Yet what might make 2012 a very notable year with regard to the politics of the net is not these meetings, but the rising storms blowing over the net regarding day to day internet politics. The preliminary stop of the un-beloved SOPA/PIPA legislation in the United States and the unexpected hesitation of Europe to sign the controversial ACTA agreement gave a first taste of a hot year in internet governance.

Australian Tobacco Law May Head To WTO Dispute As TRIPS Council Meets

The World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property issues today is meeting to address its usual list of topics with two recent additions of international interest. Countries negotiating the embattled Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and a country opposed to Australia’s public health law on tobacco packaging have added these to the agenda. Sources at the meeting say opponents of the tobacco law may be near to filing a dispute settlement case at the WTO.

The Pulse Of IP In International Pharma Today

High-level policymakers, industry leaders, law professors and other stakeholders came together in Geneva recently to discuss the how the role of intellectual property is evolving when it comes to developing, protecting, and providing medicines.

WIPO Members Begin Work On Single Text On IP And Genetic Resources

Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on genetic resources and traditional knowledge today began work on a single text that pulls together all preceding proposals. The committee is working under a mandate to develop international instruments on the protection of these resources. Meanwhile, the United States and several others have initiated an effort to agree to an “early harvest” of areas of convergence on objectives and principles only.

Public Health In 2012: A Busy Crossroads Of Partnership, Innovation, And Trade

From advancing public-private partnerships and increasing international collaboration to promoting innovation in neglected therapy areas and developing new research and development models, policymakers have set a steady pace as they advance the 2012 global health agenda.

WIPO Members Aim For Single Text On Genetic Resources Protection

Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization, in the company of indigenous groups from around the world, have entered into eight days of intensive negotiations to try to agree on a draft text for an instrument on the protection of genetic resources.

In 2012: Are Biotech, Ethics And Biodiversity Friends or Foes?

With food demand and prices rising as the world crosses the threshold of 7 billion people, the need to find new medicines, concerns about the shrinking biodiversity and the effects of climate change may designate biotechnologies as the main response. Opinions differ on the way to address those issues, in particular about intellectual property rights attached to biotechnologies.

Legislative questions are being discussed on both sides of the Atlantic around the scope of patentability, and intellectual property rights on plants, seeds, molecules or methods, as well as exemptions that some think should be applied. The year ahead will see some decisions that might impact the biotechnology industry both in the United States and in Europe.

Will The Old Music Industry Giants Be Exchanged For New Ones?

CANNES, FRANCE--The red carpets were still there at the Midem, the world’s largest music fair, but they have become shorter. The industry shattered over the years by the decline in physical sales and fighting fiercely against digital piracy this year praised the revenue from digital sources which have overtaken physical sales in some countries. But it remains to be seen - can the old giants partner with the new, digital platform giants, and survive?