Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Health Organization today (24 May) adopted a one-year plan to come up with a policy on engagement with “non-state actors” – industry, nongovernmental groups, foundations and academics.
Music, movie, and television companies suffered a major defeat yesterday, when the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The ruling will lead to a flood of new copyright infringement suits against these content companies, according to many experts. And content companies may not be the only losers.
On 11 April 2014, the Spanish Council of Ministers approved a draft law reforming the current Spanish Patent Law of 1986. The reform aims to reconcile the regulation with the international framework, strengthen the Spanish patent system and make it easier and faster to obtain solid patent titles in Spain. It contains a few notable changes.
The Geneva IP delegates list is updated! As a special feature for our subscribers, Intellectual Property Watch has assembled a new list of many of the leading government delegates working on intellectual property issues in Geneva.
Digitisation of copyrighted works is in growing demand, and books are increasingly being made widely available in digital form. Two forms of works however - orphan and out-of-commerce works - are in danger of missing out, said speakers at a recent World Intellectual Property Organization event, and there is a risk of forever losing an important part of our cultural heritage embedded in these works. Another panel, meanwhile, illustrated that laws on copyright and licensing also present obstacles to cross-border use of digitised works by universities, libraries and archives.
Intellectual property issues may not be at the top of the post-Bali negotiations at the World Trade Organization, but there are many IP-related issues going on at the WTO. Below is an overview of some current and possible IP-related issues at the WTO.
The first half of this week’s World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee meeting was devoted to a potential treaty to protect broadcasters’ rights. Delegations struggled to find common ground on core questions such as the scope of the protection to be granted and specific rights. This was partly attributed to the highly technical nature of the subject and informal consultations were said to have achieved more clarity on issues.
The United States Supreme Court yesterday issued two rulings that were bad news for patent assertion entities, or "patent trolls". Thanks to these decisions, trolls and other patentees could be on the hook for millions in fees whenever they bring frivolous patent infringement suits.
NEW YORK – The annual Fordham Law School IP Law and Policy Conference held last week offered an intensive two days of in-depth legal issues in intellectual property, with a mix of perspectives from representatives of intergovernmental organisations, governments, courts, industry, and a smattering of public interest advocates.
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates next week are expected to pore over a draft treaty text offering protection to broadcasters. Some issues, such as what the protection should cover, remain in the way of consensual language, and a new proposal has been put forward by the United Kingdom. Also on the agenda of the copyright committee is exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives, for which the nature of the instrument(s) that would provide such exceptions is not yet defined.
Another agenda item is a proposal on a copyright consortium for managing books for visually impaired persons.