Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Philippine Senate, the upper house of the country's bicameral congress, has approved a bill that seeks to put teeth into its copyright law as the island nation fights a bad reputation as one of the Asian states with high piracy rates. But it also seeks to protect fair use of copyrighted material.
Cebu City, Philippines – The 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met over the weekend to advance the groundwork for what is perceived as a challenging but progressing task of harmonising their e-commerce laws, ahead of the region's nearing deadline of creating an integrated economy by 2015.
After a difficult session last May, the World Intellectual Property Organization committee examining the development dimension of WIPO activities will reconvene next week with a substantive agenda. In particular, delegates will assess progress of ongoing projects, consider reports on finished projects, and consider the committee's future work. They also will consider a conference on IP and development.
The only independent external oversight body of the United Nations has launched a new website, making it easier to access its reports dating back to 1968, and other information.
Baku, Azerbaijan - The need to bring all stakeholders together to discuss the future of copyright appears to have gotten a push from this year’s UN-led Internet Governance Forum.
The government of India has released a set of draft guidelines to be followed in the patenting of traditional knowledge and biological material. Comments are due by 22 November.
Members of the World Trade Organization intellectual property rights committee today launched their first-ever debate on IP and innovation. In addition, least developed countries formally requested an extension of their transition period to enforce WTO rules on IPRs.
Baku, Azerbaijan - Over 100 workshops related to policies and technologies of the internet – including side events, open fora by United Nations and internet governance organisations, and gatherings of the “dynamic coalitions” - are on the agenda of the 7th UN Internet Governance Forum, which started Tuesday in Baku, Azerbaijan.
US voters returned President Obama for four more years, and kept his party's dominance of the US Senate as well as the opposition party's dominance of the House of Representatives. While the Obama administration has generally allied itself with copyright interests, some see the possibility of a reversal in the US Congress of a trend toward stronger copyright protection.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) last night quickly congratulated US President Barack Obama on his re-election for four more years, praising his “understanding” of the importance of intellectual property to the US economy. Observers have seen the Obama administration as strongly supportive of the copyright industry, and said Obama received significant campaign financial support from Hollywood while possibly losing ground with the technology industry. And some even see the possibility of a reverse in the US Congress of a trend toward stronger copyright protection.
Applause for the United Nations-Led Internet Governance Forum came from speakers at yesterday’s opening session of the four-day meeting.
Baku, Azerbaijan - Amelia Andersdotter, member of the European Parliament for the Swedish Pirate Party, in no polite words today (6 November) told the participants of the 7th Internet Governance Forum in Baku what she thought about the lack of progress in adapting copyright to the digital age.