Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Internet Governance Forum Dynamic Coalition on Trade and the Internet, a group formed in 2016, held its formal inaugural meeting today and adopted a resolution on transparency in trade negotiations, in particular on trade rules that affect the online and digital environment.
“Internet content regulation is coming, in fact it is already here,” said David Kaye, United Nations special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, during a panel organised by the Global Network Initiative on day one of the 12th Internet Governance Forum in Geneva this week.
Who does not like to have the possibility to shop online, or benefit from online services? No one disputes the advantage of the digital age, but in a world in which a very small number of actors, such as Google and Facebook, hosted by rich countries, reap most of the advertising benefits, developing countries are wary of binding rules which would only serve to enhance the digital and economic divide, according to speakers on an opening panel today at this week’s Internet Governance Forum.
The 12th annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum will open in Geneva next week. The United Nations entity, which presents itself as a free electron of internet governance, will host a large number of sessions addressing pressing issues of the digital world, including big data, cyber security, and artificial intelligence. Discussions held at the forum will enhance understanding of the broad issue of internet governance, and help hold actors accountable.
The European Parliament today adopted a report that lays out a European digital trade strategy. Adopted by a margin of 510 to 95 in Strasbourg, the report obliges the Commission to make digital trade an essential part in the European trade policy.
A new European Union ancillary copyright provision for news publishers will help them against news aggregators and platform providers, promised proponents and two panellists favouring the addition of the EU Copyright Reform at a workshop of the Justice Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament in Brussels today (7 December). But it’s a promise that cannot be kept according to a study commissioned by the Parliament and also presented during a feisty discussion at the workshop.
Should the European Parliament consider regulation on 3D printing with regard to intellectual property protection and civil liability? Members of the Justice Committee (JURI) today at their session in Brussels were divided with representatives from the Green Party group as well as the conservatives and liberals cautioning against erecting barriers to the technology.
A case now before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, Spanski Enterprises v. Telewizja Polska, creates a legal dilemma. The court needs to find Telewizja liable for copyright infringement, or else the court will create a roadmap for pirates, enabling them to stream copyrighted works into the US with impunity. But if the court finds Telewizja committed infringement simply because the Polish company put online works that could be accessed in the US, the court will apply US copyright law in an extraterritorial manner that will create problems around the globe.
KAMPALA, Uganda -- The Forty-first Session of the Administrative Council of African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) held this month adopted the Regulations for the Implementation of the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, amidst protest from civil society organisations and farmer representatives.
VCAST, a UK company that makes available to its customers internet retransmissions of Italian television programmes stored in the cloud, must obtain right holders’ consent first, the Court of Justice of European Union (CJEU) ruled on 29 November.