Original news and analysis on international IP policy
BRUSSELS - India’s status as a top world supplier of generic medicines could be threatened by a free trade agreement its government is negotiating with the European Union, a new study has concluded. Separately, the World Customs Organization has abandoned its intellectual property rights enforcement group, replacing it with a non-policymaking information committee.
WASHINGTON, DC - France's "three strikes" law is both "ambitious" and "realistic," French culture and communication minister Christine Albanel told a conference Tuesday, and anyone who thinks the internet can be a lawless arena where anything goes is "in the wrong century." Also at the conference, predictions were made on US legislation on patent reform, performance rights and other issues.
What applies offline is also valid online - an argument often used against internet communication by legislators - has been turned around to underline fundamental rights on the internet in a new resolution of the Council of Europe.
A commission under the United Nations charged with monitoring progress in improving science and technology in places where access is difficult and capacity to use that access scarce, concluded its recent annual meeting with draft resolutions on internet and society and on development and science. One notes that there is still much work to be done to bridge the ‘digital divide’ that creates disparities in access to information technology and knowledge in the world; the other calls on governments and UN institutions to find innovative ways to support innovative capacity.
Now even trademark owners and large businesses do not really agree on the planned extension of the internet domain name system to include hundreds of new top-level domains (TLDs) like .com.
COPENHAGEN - As a candidate for the European Parliament elections on Sunday, the Swedish Pirate Party has “good chances” of winning one, two or possibly even three mandates, it says, referring to Swedish opinion polls.
Draft legislation to change United States copyright law related to payment for music on radio is likely to see action this summer in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the committee chairman said Thursday.
لجنة المنظمة العالمية للملكية الفكرية المعنية بحق المؤلف توصلت في مايو/أيار إلى اتفاق بشأن تناول الاستثناءات في حق المؤلف للأشخاص المعوقين بصريا وغيرهم من أجل تحسين نفاذهم إلى مواد القراءة.
En mai dernier, le comité du droit d’auteur de l’Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI) s’est accordé sur la manière d’aborder la proposition de traité sur les exceptions au droit d’auteur en faveur des déficients visuels et sur d’autres dispositions permettant un meilleur accès aux ouvrages de lecture.
En mayo, el Comité de derechos de autor de la Organización Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual llegó a un acuerdo sobre un plan para examinar una propuesta de tratado sobre excepciones a los derechos de autor que permitan a los discapacitados visuales y a otras personas tener un mejor acceso a material de lectura.
After intensive negotiations, the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee reached agreement Friday night on a plan to address a proposed treaty on copyright exceptions for visually impaired persons and others. There also appeared to be a renewed focus on a decade-old treaty proposal on audiovisual performances, according to participants.
Récemment, une cour fédérale des États-Unis a annoncé une mauvaise nouvelle au gouvernement américain et à de nombreux titulaires de droits d’auteur étrangers, comme ceux des œuvres de Sergueï Rachmaninov, de Dmitry Chostakovitch, de Sergueï Prokofiev et d’Igor Stravinski. En effet, la cour en question vient d’invalider une loi américaine qui avait rétabli la protection des droits d’auteur appliqués aux œuvres de ces auteurs étrangers