Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization are quietly but heatedly discussing how to address an external review of WIPO technical assistance in the lead-up to the next Committee on Development and IP (CDIP) meeting, according to sources. And some are watchful that there not be an effort to bury the substantive and at-times critical review, even as WIPO has issued a lengthy response to it.
The second annual report of the Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) Victoria Espinel paints a picture of the United States' multifaceted and ever-expanding war on IP infringement, at home and abroad.
Using on-the-ground research in Africa and the Netherlands, the authors of a recent book looked at the impact of intellectual property on agriculture and health in developing countries. The study made some surprise findings in relation to IP and development, such as IP-related obstacles to knowledge and technology transfer.
The Committee of International Trade of the European Parliament today voted against referring the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The All-Party Parliamentary Intellectual Property Group in the United Kingdom is undertaking an inquiry into the government's role in intellectual property (IP) promotion and protection, less than a year after the publication of an independent and comprehensive review on the UK's IP system.
With the commercial internet now in its early twenties, stakeholders are finding themselves at a crossroads, unsure whether to allow business as usual or embrace a more regulated regime. Intellectual property, with its penchant for protection, is one of those areas where the tug-of-war is most evident, and seemingly caught in the middle are internet intermediaries.
The last year has witnessed a series of convictions of copyright pirates by the Federal High Courts in Nigeria. Information provided by Afam Ezekude, the Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, the government agency responsible for copyright matters, shows that the courts have convicted copyright infringers in 18 cases within the last 5 months (October 2011 to February 2012).
PARIS – Intellectual property assets and how they influence corporate value, plus trademarks in the digital world were discussed last week by intellectual property professionals gathered in Paris.
Opposing opinions on the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) clashed anew ahead of next week's meetings of the European Parliament where the EU body may make critical decisions on the fate of the deal.
Public Knowledge, a Washington, DC-based public interest group, has launched an initiative that capitalises on active participation from American online and social media users to lobby for the adoption of some reforms in internet governance aimed at protecting knowledge access.
If you cannot beat them, join them. For that reason this Chair of IP has decided to announce a NEW sui generis Protection of Traditional Knowledge Bill in the hope that something may yet be done to save us all.
South-east Asia's economic juggernaut Singapore will hold a public consultation on a proposal to liberalise its patent law in a bid to cement its position as the intellectual property (IP) hub in the region.