Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Participants at a recent conference in South Africa offered insights and some optimism about prospects for local communities to exploit their traditional knowledge to help their economies while at the same time protecting that knowledge.
A 12-year-old World Health Organization programme for prequalifying medical products has helped international organisations and others to safely purchase billions of US dollars' worth of quality medicines per year, but now is at risk due to funding shortages, a new study released today found.
Just weeks before being abruptly arrested and strip-searched in New York, a now-departed Indian diplomat took on the powerful US business lobby over India’s controversial approach to intellectual property.
In this interview, Intellectual Property Watch sat down with Prof. Chidi Oguamanam, a professor in the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, to talk about his recent book, “Intellectual Property in Global Governance: A Development Question.” The book, published by Routledge, covers issues of the knowledge economy, structures and regime dynamics, human rights, agriculture, traditional/indigenous knowledge, traditional cultural expressions/folklore, and management of intellectual property in global governance.
A new regulation on the enforcement of intellectual property rights took effect in the European Union on 1 January, strengthening enforcement and extending the range of rights protected, according to a legal analysis.
On 18 December, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus Resolution A/RES/68/167, The right to privacy in the digital age (see page 139 of document A/68/456/Add.2). This Resolution was initially introduced by Brazil and Germany and was subsequently supported by other countries.
More than 250 academics from around the world have signed a declaration strongly calling for a stop to surveillance of citizens' communications online by US and European authorities. And in December, more than 500 top authors joined a coalition called Writers against Mass Surveillance calling for international rules to curb wholesale surveillance.
A recent conference on intellectual property and the public interest concluded with the adoption of public interest principles to guide international trade negotiations and international organisations.
After a week of work on the three current subjects of the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee, member states mostly made progress on a potential treaty to protect broadcasting organisations, while exceptions and limitations to copyright for libraries, archives, education and research remain in the stage of determining broad concepts.
The World Intellectual Property Organization will hold a conference in January on open innovation and the future of knowledge, featuring some surprising speakers.
As World Intellectual Property Organization member states launched into discussions on exceptions and limitations to copyright for the benefit of libraries and archives this week, non-governmental organisations were given the opportunity to present their views on the issue. They delivered vibrant, sometimes contradictory, statements on the opportunity for a treaty to preserve exceptions in the international copyright system.
The European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs today received an oral summary of the draft recommendations on mass surveillance, after hearing the testimony of former Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald.