Original news and analysis on international IP policy
In the continued absence of a new model that adequately includes them, major global media groups remain concerned over revenues lost to unauthorised file-sharing decades after the arrival of the internet, and their focus is still on enforcement and extension of their rights.
As cases of swine flu in humans pile up and fears that a more serious outbreak could occur in the future, member states, drug manufacturers and public health advocates gather Friday and Saturday to see if they can come up with a way to facilitate sharing of both viruses and vaccine related materials.
Intellectual property laws are a key point of contention at the reconvened meeting.
The French Senate’s vote on Wednesday sealed the adoption by the Parliament of the controversial French HADOPI law creating a graduated punishment mechanism for alleged copyright infringement on the internet.
An Argentinean philosophy professor is being sued for alleged copyright infringement for posting translated versions of French philosopher Jacques Derrida’s works on a website, according to the Copy South Research Group. The case is bringing international attention to the limitations on access to education brought about by copyright.
A new study shows a copyright exception for legalising file-sharing is feasible, as a cease-fire in the “war on copying” emerges. A new social contract between creatives and society is needed, says media sociologist Volker Grassmuck.
A United States federal court recently gave some bad news to the US government and many foreign copyright owners - including the estates of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Dmitry Shostakovich, Sergei Prokofiev, and Igor Stravinsky. The court struck down a US statute which had restored copyright protection to the works of these foreign authors. By limiting copyright restoration, the ruling might prevent the US from fulfilling its obligations under the Berne Convention and the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
The public domain is key to the promotion of innovation and should be fostered, but international intellectual property policies may hinder that process, said speakers at a side event to the last week’s meeting of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property. Limitations and exceptions to copyright should be expanded and made mandatory, policymaking should be based on evidence and the public domain should be clearly defined and listed internationally, they said.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization in difficult negotiations last week approved a new plan for implementation of recommendations for deepening WIPO’s development focus, according to participants.
BRUXELLES - « Le droit d’auteur devrait être aboli car il nuit à la diversité culturelle », a-t-on entendu lors d’une conférence à Bruxelles.
LISBON - The role of information and communications technology (ICTs) in boosting global economic recovery plus the greening and convergence of ICTs were made top issues of the 4th World Telecom Policy Forum (WTPF) in Lisbon held on 22-24 April.
Member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization are trying this week to agree on implementation of a new development dimension for the UN body and the global intellectual property system. And they have a new methodology proposed by the WIPO secretariat as a starting point.
While rightsholders hailed a “landmark” recent high-profile verdict against the operators of Swedish online file-sharing site The Pirate Bay (TPB), legal and digital rights analysts say it was no surprise. While the law of secondary liability for copyright infringement is by no means settled everywhere, TPB’s attitude toward intellectual property protections means the same decision could have happened in other countries as well, they said.