Category Access to Knowledge/ Education

Indigenous Groups Allege Canadian Obstructionism To Biodiversity ABS Protocol

NAGOYA, JAPAN - With the clock ticking and less than a day to go before a draft of a legally binding instrument to prevent biopiracy is due to be presented to the assembly of a major United Nations meeting on biodiversity, delegations kept trying to find acceptable language, with different echoes coming from the negotiating room. Meanwhile, Canadian indigenous people convened a press briefing today (21 October) to charge that Canada was trying to block the negotiations and deny their human rights.

Minister: India Anticipates European Fix To Law Delaying Generics Shipments

Europe has promised at the "highest levels" to fix laws that caused generic medicine seizures in the Netherlands, the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry said today. The minister is in Geneva for meetings on the ongoing Doha Round trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organization.

Copyright Industry Makes Pitch For Economic Benefit Of Anti-Piracy In Developing Countries

Copyright law is not always a barrier to access to knowledge, but lack of adequate or predicable copyright enforcement in developing countries can prevent the evolution of their own local creative industries, said several representatives from such industries yesterday.

US Attorney General In China Talks Tough, Blurs Line, On IP

United States Attorney General Eric Holder today called on other governments to join in intensifying the fight against intellectual property infringement, on the theme that, “intellectual property crimes are not victimless.” But his law enforcement argument may need finessing to reach all stakeholders.

Special Report: Are Copyright Trolls The Future Of Digital Content Protection?

Entrepreneurial law firms in the United States and United Kingdom are targeting suspected internet infringers through mass letter-writing and lawsuit campaigns. Are “copyright trolls” the way of the future for protecting digital content?

WIPO Members Search For A Negotiating Agenda On Patent Law

Patents aren't what they used to be at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Discussions to come up with a work plan at the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) this week and in recent meetings point to the possibility of a sea change in thinking over what matters about intellectual property policy and law.

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Near-Finished Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Pact Could Have Broad Reach

The countries that own most of the world’s intellectual property rights have all but completed an agreement among themselves that raises the level of protection of those rights while appearing to reduce obligations placed on rights holders. Now they’ll need to find ways to apply it to the countries of the world seen as responsible for much of the infringing material.

ACTA: No More Negotiating Rounds Planned; Latest Text To Be Released

The round of negotiations in Tokyo last week on the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) will be the last in the several-year long process to come to a final agreement, negotiators have said. The latest text - along with highlighted issue areas on which certain countries still have reservations - will be released before the end of the week, negotiators told Intellectual Property Watch.