Category Enforcement

WIPO Assembly Agrees Budget For 2016/2017; Work Continues After Hours On Remaining Items

Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization in a late-night session agreed on the budget for the UN agency for the next biennium after a deep debate over financing of a registration system for appellations of origin. Meanwhile, negotiators went back to work toward the early morning hours to finish outstanding issues of WIPO offices in other countries, the future of the traditional knowledge committee, and the program of the copyright committee.

Argentina: Bill To Expand Copyright On Photographs To Life-Plus-70 Years Introduced In Argentine Congress

Maximiliano Marzetti writes: Bill No. 2517-D-2015, presented by Liliana Mazure, Gloria Bidegain, Susana Canela, Gastón Harispe, Héctor Recalde and Eduardo Seminara, was introduced to the Argentine Congress to reform the Argentine Copyright Act (Law No. 11.723) in order to extend copyright over photographic works to life plus 70 years post mortem auctoris. The current period of protection for photographs in Argentina is 20 years since publication (article 34). In case the bill is passed it will have retroactive effect, i.e. photographs that today are in the public domain will revert to private property.

European Council Backs LDC Extension At WTO

The European Council has confirmed that it will support the request of least developed countries at the World Trade Organization for the extension of a waiver of intellectual property obligations for pharmaceutical products.

A New Model For IP: Interview With Ecuador IP Office Director Hernán Núñez Rocha

Ecuador is preparing a new intellectual property policy that aims to better suit the country's strategic development. On the occasion of the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly, Hernán Núñez Rocha, head of the Ecuadorian IP office sat with Intellectual Property Watch to talk about the country's work on the IP policy and its use of IP as a tool for local development. He also explained Ecuador's position on the WIPO committee on traditional knowledge.

WTO TRIPS Council To Decide On LDC Pharma Extension, Non-Violation Complaints

The intellectual property committee of the World Trade Organization is meeting this week with a full agenda. The highlight of the agenda is the extension of a waiver allowing least developed countries to choose not to enforce intellectual property rights on pharmaceutical products. Also high on the agenda is a decision on whether to extend a moratorium banning IP from complaints not linked to any breached WTO agreement, and the annual review of special compulsory licence for exporting pharmaceutical products.

WIPO Hears From The Creators Behind Copyright Protection In Global Film

A private sector panel at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week explored the collaborative relationships that develop between screenwriters, producers, and directors around the world as they bring a project from an initial idea to a finished film. The panel also looked at the role of copyright law in the various stages of this film-making process.

New Book Launched At WTO: The Making Of The TRIPS Agreement

The 1994 World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has been a landmark pact in the IP world and beyond. Now on the 20th anniversary of its entry into force, former TRIPS negotiators and other experts have come out with a book recounting the remarkable set of circumstances and compromises that took place to bring this agreement into being.