Original news and analysis on international IP policy
CETA, the Canada-Europe trade agreement, is still not at the finish line yet. The European Commission has all but one member state on board for the signature of the Comprehensive Economy and Trade Agreement (CETA), Slovak Economy Minister Peter Ziga said today after a meeting of the trade ministers of the EU member states.
Audiovisual producers at a side event to the recent World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies shared experiences and exchanged best practices in the use of copyright and related rights’ frameworks. Speakers said they seek an enabling environment, where makers of audiovisual works can achieve economic sustainability and contribute to local employment and growth through the creation and supply of local audiovisual works.
Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong lead the way on preventing illicit trade, followed by Japan and South Korea, according to an industry index released this week. China came in slightly above midpoint on the index, while Lao and Myanmar were at the bottom. Among the recommendations by industry were to establish custom information systems and infringement procedures to deter illicit trading. Intellectual property protection was rated as fundamental in the fight against such trade.
The German Constitutional Court in a fast-track decision today rejected the granting of emergency injunctions against a German signature of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) of Europe with Canada.
With management-staff relations at the European Patent Office still spiralling downward, staff members are pressing the office's governing council to consider adopting proposed disciplinary and investigation guidelines currently under discussion in the World Intellectual Property Organization.
As the 2016 World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies near their close on 11 October, Intellectual Property Watch provides an update on what’s been agreed and what’s still outstanding among the key issues.
Stung by what some saw as a botched process for handling allegations from senior officials about the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO members are working this week to agree on changes to procedures. A new draft text circulated this morning introduces additional responsibility for governments in the process, and is under discussion today. At press time, ambassadors from the African Group were meeting and asked to hold up the process until internal agreement could be reached on the text. The plenary is scheduled to reconvene at four o'clock today.
The member governments of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization, after considering a confidential UN investigation report on whistleblower charges against WIPO Director General Francis Gurry, have decided to end the case without discipline, WIPO has said. Instead, members are working to bolster whistleblower protections, internal oversight and procurement procedures at the agency for the future.
Member governments of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are working intensively in a closed-door session today to make changes to the way allegations of wrongdoing against high-ranking WIPO officials are handled. What is not clear from the secretive discussions is whether any action will be taken against the director general as a result of a UN investigation of his activities, for which the UN report is on the meeting agenda.
The decision-making bodies of the World Intellectual Property Organization are meeting this week with the hope of advancing discussions of pending potential treaties to protect broadcasting organisations, and simplifying the international applications for industrial designs. Meanwhile, Director General Francis Gurry opened the annual WIPO General Assemblies with a look at the past year and challenges for the future.
Competition policy has evolved along with globalization and trade in past years. Now there are challenges such as the growth in international trade transactions and rapidly increasing cross-border mergers and antitrust cases. In parallel, the proliferation of competition policies and system has created potential of conflict of jurisdiction. Experts on competition and trade policies came together during the World Trade Organization Public Forum last week to discuss what the WTO can do and how better coordination between the competition policy and trade policy can be achieved to support growth and inclusiveness.
A conference on clinical drug trials held today shed a harsh light on the availability and honesty of clinical trial reports. Many factors concur to possible distortion of results, speakers said, calling for more stringent obligations to provide all data for analysis. They also noted legislative efforts to tackle the issue. Speakers also pointed out a growing trend for pharmaceutical companies to conduct clinical trials in developing countries.