Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The United States Trade Representative’s office yesterday issued its annual report naming countries that it says are the biggest infringers of US intellectual property rights, among them some of the country’s biggest trading partners. Meanwhile, questions were raised about the close adherence to industry views in the report.
Opponents and proponents of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in the European Parliament have positioned themselves in meetings of several committees preparing opinions.
Intellectual property rights have been around for centuries in some cultures, but in recent decades have taken off as a global set of rules, bringing with it many business opportunities and policy concerns. Today, on the annual day designated for the celebration of IP rights, some new industry and civil society initiatives were launched and several gatherings in praise of IP were held.
The United States Department of State has announced its approval of 12 anti-crime projects around the world aimed at intellectual property protection.
A major consumer group today released the results of its annual survey of 30 countries' copyright laws and concluded that bias against consumers in favour of multinational copyright holders is "entrenched" and that there is a "global outcry" about overly strong copyright enforcement legislation. Meanwhile, international journalists groups joined songwriters, composers, film directors, screenwriters, illustrators, photographers and visual authors across Europe today to launch a public campaign "to bring an end to the unfair contractual practices facing creators."
A copy of a key judgment by the High Court of Kenya last week that found a national anti-counterfeiting law was overly broad and might interfere with access to generic medicines is now available on Intellectual Property Watch.
At the close of a WIPO meeting to advance a text to become a potential treaty to protect traditional knowledge, some countries found that the results of the session were somewhat disappointing, although some progress had been achieved.
From the outset of a World Intellectual Property Organization meeting to advance a potential treaty text on the protection of traditional knowledge, discussions on draft articles of the possible treaty confirmed divergence of views, notably between developed and developing countries.
The rapporteur of the lead committee of the European Parliament on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, David Martin, today published his draft recommendation on the highly controversial agreement. If the International Trade Committee agrees on the draft, the plenary will be asked to state that it "declines to consent to conclusion of the agreement."
Rapporteurs for three committees of the European Parliament (Legal, Industry and Trade, and International Trade) have tabled reports or announced what they will propose on the plurilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). And the Group of 8 may have signalled a shift to a narrower approach on intellectual property rights at its meeting last week.
In 2010, institutions in Albania created a strategy to help enforce intellectual property rights within five years. Intellectual Property Watch recently conducted a written Q and A with Vladimir Nika, Albanian office director for the Eastern European law firm PETOŠEVIĆ, on the progress and prospects for the Albanian legislature’s implementation of the 2010 IPR enforcement strategy.
Intellectual property-intensive industries in the United States support at least 40 million jobs and contribute more than $5 trillion - or 34.8 percent of - US gross domestic product (GDP), according to a report released by the Obama administration Wednesday.