Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Alongside this week's meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on enforcement, an event featured a former South African Supreme Court judge presenting his views on IP enforcement. There is a need to go for the “big fish,” he said, and to bring balance in sanctions and enforcement procedures. He also described courts as finding that exceptions to copyright are a public right.
[Software Freedom Law Center, Link (CC-BY-SA)] The first official public release of the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement (known universally as the TPP) on November 5, 2015 generated much heated speculation. The ideal of “open agreements, openly arrived at” remains regrettably unattainable in international affairs. “Fast track” trade negotiating authority in the US means that parties excluded from the negotiating process have a short time in which to mobilize for or against the treaty as a whole in light of their specific concerns. The premium on speed of response to a very lengthy and complex legal document—and the presence of intense public attention—guarantees that hasty judgment and occasional self-promotion will always outrun professional analysis; this is one of the inherent defects of secret legislation.
The enforcement of intellectual property rights is a challenge in particular because of the lack of awareness of the consequences of infringement, said several speakers at the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on enforcement this week.
The 26th United States-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT) meeting was held from 21-23 November, and covered a wide range of intellectual property-related areas, including standards and IP, trade secrets, geographical indications, sports broadcasting, enhanced enforcement against media boxes and unauthorised content providers, and online enforcement.
Today, the World Trade Organisation intellectual property committee agreed on a recommendation to extend until 2017 a moratorium shielding intellectual property from a mechanism through which one WTO member can go after another member even in the absence of WTO rules infringement.
Draft rules updating Nigeria's copyright law regime are expected to be submitted to Parliament in 2016, Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) Regulatory Department Head Michael Akpan has said. While the provisions have already been thoroughly vetted by stakeholders during consultations, several are likely to be challenged, he told Intellectual Property Watch. [Updated]
The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling on 29 October related to the definition of a “database,” more especially of the “independent material” constituting a database.
Romanian members of Parliament have submitted a draft bill to establish a national scientific works register to combat intellectual property violations and plagiarism. These are to include theses, dissertations, articles, papers and reports. The draft, prepared by MPs from all the parties present in the Parliament, says the register is to comprise all scientific works prepared by and defended at higher education institutions which receive public funds, including private institutions which obtain some forms of funding from the state budget.
A group of companies launched the Fair Standards Alliance this week in Brussels, aimed at ensuring licensing of standard-essential patents is done on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms. This reflects an industry trend toward clarifying the meaning of FRAND to help boost use of patents included in standards.
A shorter than usual World Intellectual Property Organization meeting of its committee on trademarks, designs and geographical indications closed yesterday with the prospect of keeping all items on the agenda for the next session.
A cybersquatter based in Indonesia who created a website falsely using the Electronic Frontier Foundation name but offering malware did so in bad faith and with malicious intent, a World Intellectual Property Organization panellist has found.
Last month, the World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property was suspended over two contentious items. One item left open is the proposed extension of a moratorium which leaves intellectual property outside of a mechanism through which one WTO member can go after another despite no violation of a WTO agreement. According to sources, a solution might be within reach.