Original news and analysis on international IP policy
While action on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is occurring at the European Parliament in Brussels – including a new letter from Members of Parliament and 2.5 million petitioners in opposition - ACTA also was the subject of discussion at the World Trade Organization this week.
The World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property issues today is meeting to address its usual list of topics with two recent additions of international interest. Countries negotiating the embattled Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and a country opposed to Australia’s public health law on tobacco packaging have added these to the agenda. Sources at the meeting say opponents of the tobacco law may be near to filing a dispute settlement case at the WTO.
It was obviously a moment of some embarrassment for the US Department of Commerce and the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
A training programme on intellectual property organised by the United States with several partners to be held in Africa in April has been postponed under pressure to make the programme more transparent and representative of all stakeholders.
The European Union's progress of adopting the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiated last year has been suspended pending a ruling by Europe's highest court, the European Trade Commissioner announced yesterday.
After eight days of intensive drafting work, delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization now have a text that will be submitted to the WIPO General Assemblies in September so that a diplomatic conference can be decided upon to finish negotiations on an international instrument protecting genetic resources from misappropriation.
The International Indigenous Forum, in an unprecedented collective move, decided yesterday to withdraw from the discussions of the WIPO Committee on Genetic Resources taking place from 14-22 February. The move calls into question the legitimacy of the negotiations.
Precious little is known publicly about the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement being negotiated by the United States and other Pacific-bordering nations, but some sources say the agreement could contain some of the strongest language on intellectual property rights that has come under attack in other agreements. US trade negotiators, meanwhile, say they are consulting stakeholders widely.
The development of an international instrument on the protection of genetic resources continues to engage government delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Sources have called the process constructive and meeting Chair Wayne McCook, the permanent representative of Jamaica, said delegations were very engaged in the exercise. But a sharp divide remains on several subjects.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization, in the company of indigenous groups from around the world, have entered into eight days of intensive negotiations to try to agree on a draft text for an instrument on the protection of genetic resources.
Europeans came out by the thousands this week to protest the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), as it goes before the parliament and the remaining governments that have not yet signed on. But a large number of industry associations sent a letter pushing officials to carefully consider the agreement before dismissing it under popular pressure.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has embarked on a programme of allowing new generic top-level domains on the internet (like .com), an initiative that has worried trademark holders and international organisations. Now the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center is offering services for trademark holders who wish to challenge proposals for new gTLDs later this year.