Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The United States Federal Trade Commission, which keeps an eye out for anticompetitive behaviour, has issued a study finding that in 2012, a record number of deals were struck between brand-name and generic drug companies to keep the lower-priced generics off the market. Such deals, which arise from patent disputes, cost American consumers billions of dollars annually while piling on the federal deficit, it said.
Although pressure on internet service providers and other online companies to stop digital infringement isn't likely to abate this year, the current focus on enforcement appears to be giving way to a broader debate about how to resolve long-standing copyright issues to the benefit of users and the global economy. Talks continue in the World Intellectual Property Organization and elsewhere on exceptions and limitations, as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement remains controversial.
The United States Senate Judiciary Committee in 2013 will address topical issues of gun violence and immigration, but will also take up issues of citizens' civil liberties in light of ever-increasing security measures, and a push for government transparency, freedom of the press, digital rights, access to books for the visually impaired, and incentives for innovation.
The Corporate Europe Observatory and the European Commission presented their arguments in a case over access to documents about the EU-India free trade agreement before the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg last Friday.
Intellectual property owners in the United States may be happy to see the end of 2012. Among the notable setbacks they suffered last year: Congress refused to expand remedies against online infringement, the Supreme Court raised the bar for patentable inventions, and lower courts repeatedly denied injunctions against patent infringement. It is unclear, however, if IP owners will fare better in 2013.
“We live in an age changed and characterised by the use of information about individuals and personalised data and we need clear and differentiated rules how to handle this,” Green Member of the European Parliament Jan Philipp Albrecht, one of the lead rapporteurs for the data protection reform in Europe, said today. “General principles alone are not sufficient.”
The United States Patent and Trademark Office and US Department of Justice yesterday issued a joint policy statement on standards essential patents that encourages voluntary technology licensing on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, and discourages injunctions or exclusionary orders that block infringing products from the market. Their advice to the International Trade Commission cites innovation, competition, consumers and the public interest.
What will 2013 bring for international intellectual property and innovation policy?
In the coming Intellectual Property Watch series for subscribers, our expert writers take a look at the top global policy issues and events in copyright, public health, legal battles, food security/biotech/biodiversity, trade, development, internet governance and more.
The fight against counterfeiting and piracy is at the heart of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on enforcement, a non-negotiating body. In a meeting of the committee this week, delegates heard expert presentations on ways to tackle infringement and measure its impact. However, the smooth discussions were disrupted by considerations of the future work of the committee.
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled this week that “restriction of Internet access without a strict legal framework regulating the scope of the ban and affording the guarantee of judicial review to prevent possible abuses amounts to a violation of freedom of expression.”
Washington, DC - The United States Chamber of Commerce last week held its annual roundtable with US government IP attachés stationed around the world. At the same event, it released a consultant study that rated the IP rights usage of 11 rather different countries.
Manila, Philippines - With the global success of the dance single Gangnam Style, the heyday of the Korean popular music or K-Pop, along with the country's other creative content, is proving to be far from over. And it’s providing a good reason for the Republic of Korea to bolster its copyright protection strategy, particularly in countries where its creative content exports are most popular and where copyright infringement is inevitable.