Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) today wrote to several European Union commissioners in an appeal for them to weigh in against the standardisation of the Encrypted Media Extension (EME) for the new HTML version, HTML5.
Digitisation of copyrighted works is in growing demand, and books are increasingly being made widely available in digital form. Two forms of works however - orphan and out-of-commerce works - are in danger of missing out, said speakers at a recent World Intellectual Property Organization event, and there is a risk of forever losing an important part of our cultural heritage embedded in these works. Another panel, meanwhile, illustrated that laws on copyright and licensing also present obstacles to cross-border use of digitised works by universities, libraries and archives.
Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee ended without agreement on the conclusions of the meeting or its future work, to the dismay of librarians and archivists associations. During the week, numerous representatives of these communities gave vigorous accounts of why a treaty is vital to grant them exceptions to copyright.
The potential for big data to yield better outcomes in all aspects of health is tremendous, and tapping into it has only just begun, said speakers at a recent panel in Geneva.
The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), an enigma organisation to some, has published a list of answers to frequently asked questions on its website.
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates sitting on the copyright committee had to declare defeat late into the night yesterday as they could not agree on the conclusions of the meeting or its future work. The efforts by developing countries to craft a treaty providing copyright exceptions for libraries and archives met with stonewalled resistance by some developed countries, in particular the European Union.
The World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee this week has sunk its teeth into the issue of exceptions and limitations to copyright for libraries and archives. Some countries are pushing for a treaty to establish such exceptions while others find that the existing copyright system provides for it.
In a previous Inside Views article, 10 questions were raised with the hope that they would be answered in the "Global Multisectoral Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance,” also known as NETmundial. After the meeting, the author, Juan Fernández, looks at the answers.
A presentation of the Tunis Model Law this week at a World Intellectual Property Organization side event addressed how it could be updated and used as a tool to help developing countries implement new developments in international copyright-related law.
Nongovernmental organisations attending the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee meeting which this week sought to breach differences on what a treaty protecting broadcasters should cover, expressed their views with some unusual coherence.
During a signing ceremony held today at the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Union, France, Greece and India signed the treaty adopted last June to provide a wider access to copyrighted books in special format for visually impaired people.
The first half of this week’s World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee meeting was devoted to a potential treaty to protect broadcasters’ rights. Delegations struggled to find common ground on core questions such as the scope of the protection to be granted and specific rights. This was partly attributed to the highly technical nature of the subject and informal consultations were said to have achieved more clarity on issues.