Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Eben Moglen, a professor of law and history at Columbia University, made a haunting appeal to participants of the 6th re:publica conference that opened in Berlin this morning: Do not to fail in completing the fight for freedom of thought.
A report released today asserts that trade secret theft is occurring on a massive scale worldwide, and that most companies are not taking sufficient steps to stop it. The report, which comes on the eve of bilateral economic meetings between the United States and China, offers a set of recommended actions for companies and others. Also today, leading Democratic members of Congress urged the Obama administration to demand improvements in China on intellectual property rights protection.
Groups representing a range of music industry companies in the United States recently struck what they call an “historic” agreement on the tricky matter of mechanical royalty rates and standards in a digital age. Now, they are awaiting final approval on the agreement.
The United States Trade Representative’s office yesterday issued its annual report naming countries that it says are the biggest infringers of US intellectual property rights, among them some of the country’s biggest trading partners. Meanwhile, questions were raised about the close adherence to industry views in the report.
As the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) treaty comes under review, some observers are warning that it could change the rules of the game in internet governance. Others are trying to give reassurance that the new ITRs aim at enabling better access to telecommunications everywhere.
Opponents and proponents of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the European Parliament have positioned themselves in meetings of several committees preparing opinions.
In recent decades, far-reaching international cooperation has led to the development of global multistakeholder governance of the internet. While efforts to further enhance cooperative mechanisms are ongoing, one business leader with an inside track suggests that in a couple of decades, the internet will be governing itself.
Intellectual property rights have been around for centuries in some cultures, but in recent decades have taken off as a global set of rules, bringing with it many business opportunities and policy concerns. Today, on the annual day designated for the celebration of IP rights, some new industry and civil society initiatives were launched and several gatherings in praise of IP were held.
Intellectual property was identified at this week’s Global INET conference as one of the most complex issues in the public policy debate related to the internet. With creative works abundantly available to copy, share, mashup and distribute, managing IP rights, obligations and limitations has never before been so complicated and controversial.
A recent book comes in time for the international policy debates coming to a head over access to medicines, intellectual property rights and public health in developing countries.
Maintaining openness and promoting access were two major themes that emerged during the Global INET conference opening session yesterday. A panel of key internet actors gave their perspectives on the past, present and future of the internet, in line with the conference theme, “Meeting at the Crossroads: Imagining the Future of the Internet.”
A major consumer group today released the results of its annual survey of 30 countries' copyright laws and concluded that bias against consumers in favour of multinational copyright holders is "entrenched" and that there is a "global outcry" about overly strong copyright enforcement legislation. Meanwhile, international journalists groups joined songwriters, composers, film directors, screenwriters, illustrators, photographers and visual authors across Europe today to launch a public campaign "to bring an end to the unfair contractual practices facing creators."