Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee in charge of overseeing the implementation of the organisation’s cornerstone Development Agenda, ended abruptly when the session was suspended after a strong disagreement over a development project.
US Assistant Secretary for Commerce Larry Strickling said yesterday the Obama administration expects all issues to be resolved before the internet is opened to a large number of new top-level domains. And he hinted that the US might reconsider the special role of the internet coordination body if it does not comply.
Government policymakers are stalling on trade liberalization while erecting new nontransparent trade barriers, writes Frederick Abbott.
Current global intellectual property obligations are seen by some as favouring rights holders to the detriment of the public interest, and a series of amendments to international rules on trade and IP could address this, says a new book from a respected European think tank.
A debate has arisen this week among World Intellectual Property Organization members over a WIPO secretariat report on implementation of the 2007 Development Agenda, which was intended to infuse a stronger development dimension into the UN agency’s activities.
The newly published third annual Consumers International IP Watchlist shows that most countries offer weak support for consumer interests in access to knowledge and the global copyright system seems ill-equipped to respond to the new consumer creativity evolving on internet. However, the study found that some countries are demonstrating good practices when it comes to consumers.
With the internet moving beyond connected computers to a new world of mobile-connected machines and objects, it is time to make the internet more capable of handling future data-streams, with increased accuracy, resiliency, and safety, the European Commission said today. In response, the Commission committed €300 million euros over 5 years, to be matched by European research, public sector and industry contributions, for innovation and helping European businesses and government find new internet solutions.
A new ruling from Texas against Google found patent infringement in some of its use of open-source Linux code, a decision that could affect the use of Linux and other open source systems that build upon it, according to a news source.
Two civil society groups said the recent World Health Organization agreement on influenza pandemic strategy is an improvement on the present situation but has key shortcomings.
Free culture leader and Harvard University law professor Larry Lessig was at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) yesterday to talk about access to scientific knowledge on internet. In the symbolic place where the World Wide Web was invented and where scientists are now trying to unravel the creation of the universe, Lessig praised CERN’s open access initiative and in this temple of reasoning, said the copyright architecture was on the edge of absurdity.
The first financial marketplace for the trading of patent rights is scheduled to go online this year, and other countries are eyeing the United States’ progress with interest.
A European Commission-backed project to identify copyright holders and define orphan works - whose copyright owners cannot be found - recently presented its results and is heading to a second phase with more partners. The project advances the European effort at digitalising content through the Europeana project, a competing project to the Google Books project.