Original news and analysis on international IP policy
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 Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch
Two large licensing deals were announced during the recent 42nd edition of the world's largest music fair, Midem, which may help pave the way to smoother operations for online platforms in the digital music business. But while the more proactive licensing strategies of rights owners - both labels and collecting rights societies - were welcomed by many experts at Midem, the calls for more radical changes to the licensing regimes for the digital era are growing ever louder.
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch
The future of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will remain an important topic in Internet governance in 2008, the tenth anniversary of the private global coordination body for Internet addresses and domain names.
Yet experts also expect security in its different facets to be on the rise in Internet governance debates and point to the further growing interest of nation states in exercising their sovereign governance rights in cyberspace. And it is increasingly the case that governance of the Internet can affect access to online content.
By Jia Hepeng for Intellectual Property Watch
BEIJING - In a renewed effort to boost innovation, China has decided to endow scientists with the patents on publicly funded research, but experts say systematic adjustment is needed if the incentive is to achieve its desired effect.
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
The year 2008 could be a turning point for intellectual property policy and law in the United States, with key patent, copyright and enforcement legislation pending, legal decisions unfolding, and high drama in the battle over content online. All of this comes in the context of a national presidential election late in the year.
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Copyright issues take centre stage this year as debate intensifies in the European Union over Internet service provider (ISP) responsibility for online piracy. In addition, the proposed European patent litigation system, considered dead…
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 Catherine Saez
Months after health products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson filed a civil complaint against the American Red Cross and its commercial licensees to stop using the symbol of a red cross, the public interest it generated seems to have all but subsided. However, questions about the possible consequences of this lawsuit at the international level remain unanswered.
After roughly 100 years of sharing the symbol, the two entities are now fighting over it. The lawsuit filed by US-based Johnson & Johnson (J&J) against the American Red Cross (ARC) and four of its licensing partners on 8 August focused mainly on preventing the ARC and its licensing partners from using the red cross design on commercial products such as first aid kits to prevent unfair competition. The American Red Cross has licensed sale of its kits in large-scale retailers such as Wal-Mart, Target and major drug stores.
By Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Two years after India’s implementation of international trade rules on intellectual property rights, a lawyers group is rekindling a decade-old push to organise India’s patent applications into an electronic database. IP law blog…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
A bipartisan group of US legislators is calling for tougher civil and criminal penalties for copyright and trademark infringement through new legislation introduced last week. Meanwhile, the US Library of Congress Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has set royalties for satellite radio services, as webcast radio companies lobbied for rate parity.
The "Prioritising Resources and Organisation for Intellectual Property Act of 2007 (PRO IP)," introduced 5 December, would create an IP enforcement czar, establish a new IP division in the Department of Justice, and authorise the appointment of IP officers to help foreign countries combat piracy and counterfeiting.
By Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch
NEW YORK - Verizon Wireless, in a surprise move for a company known to fiercely protect its network from outside use, announced on 27 November that it would adopt an "open-access" policy for the use of its wireless services. This means that third-party devices, including Google's still in-development mobile-phone operating system Android, will be able to use the Verizon network, and opens the way for a global expansion for the telecommunications company.
Speaking at investment bank UBS's Annual Global Media Conference in New York on 5 December, Verizon President and Chief Operating Officer Denny Strigl explained the choice.
By Bruce Gain for Intellectual Property Watch
Legal experts and consumer rights groups are questioning the feasibility of measures described in an anti-piracy pact that French media groups, government officials, and Internet service providers (ISPs) announced on 23 November.
ISPs also dispute the veracity of media reports that have since claimed that access providers will begin to actively monitor and block peer-to-peer file exchanges in France.
The anti-piracy agreement describes a number of possible measures that could prevent illegal distribution of copyright-protected digital media in France.