Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, today hailed open knowledge in government, science, the internet, and education, and called again for "urgent reform" of copyright.
The Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit-sharing of genetic resources will enter into force on 12 October, following the ratification of 12 more countries last week.
The World Intellectual Property Organization is currently engaged in an unprecedented process for the selection of the new top management team to serve under recently re-elected Director General Francis Gurry. The open call for applicants resulted in some 360 applications from around the world, including from the upper echelons of WIPO itself, according to sources.
The International Seed Treaty held a celebratory high-level event recently to mark the tenth anniversary of its entry into force.
The last World Intellectual Property Organization meeting before the annual General Assembly in September ended today, meeting the same fate as many others this year. The committee addressing the protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge could not agree on recommendations to be transmitted to the Assembly, leaving it to the full membership in September.
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee on genetic resources and traditional knowledge routinely holds an indigenous panel during the first day of its meeting. This week, several of the panellists called for delegates working on potential treaties to consider the particular status of indigenous peoples.
The participation of representatives of indigenous and local communities in the World Intellectual Property Organization committee working to prevent misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge is in jeopardy due to the thorough depletion of the voluntary fund allowing such participation. Some governments are acting to save the committee's credibility.
The World Intellectual Property Organisation committee seeking to devise a way to protect genetic resources and traditional knowledge from misappropriation is trying this week to refine potential treaty texts and to agree on a recommendation to the upcoming General Assembly. Developing countries are pushing for a final negotiation next year, while the United States proposed a work plan for 2015.
For the second time this year, the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee could not agree on the conclusions of its session or on any recommendation to be made to the September General Assembly on the protection of broadcasting organisations or the establishment of an international regime of exception and limitations for libraries and education.
A group of African civil society institutions is calling for a revision of the draft protocol on plant variety protection of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation.
Recent months have seen a few interesting intellectual property symposia in the Caribbean, in particular the WIPO–JIPO Regional Conference on IP and creative industries which was held in Jamaica from February 10-12 2014. It is quite interesting that in spite of the intention that it should be regional as indicated in the title of the conference, there seems to have been little participation from the fifteen member countries of Caricom and that most of the sessions focused on Jamaica and its situation, perhaps a natural outcome of the WIPO–JIPO collaboration. Progressive Caribbean intellectuals in the area of intellectual property were also notably absent from the forum, writes Abiola Inniss.
From KIPO: Ongoing discussions for sustainable development remain prevalent among developing countries. Many of these economies are on the brink of becoming innovated, with plenty of room for growth and development within their borders. In today’s world of widespread information sharing, a solid understanding of the strategic processes for sustaining developing economies can serve as a launching point for far greater growth.
In Seoul, on July 2-3, Korean Intellectual Property Office will host an APEC-KIPO Conference on Appropriate Technology Strategic IP Utilization for Sustainable Development, which will include two days of discussions and keynote presentations on various strategies for fostering economic growth among today’s developing nations.