Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Reactions to yesterday's announcement that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is in the books quickly turned to “what's next?” with European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem sending congratulations and expressing expectations that “with TPP done, we will be able to approach our TTIP negotiations with an even greater focus from both sides.” But considerable work remains for TPP to come into effect.
The fate of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee dedicated to finding solutions to protect traditional knowledge, generic resources, and folklore is being actively discussed informally at the organisation's general assembly.
Negotiations for new global policies on intellectual property has become more challenging due to a greater competition in innovation, knowledge asymmetries, and the push for bilateral and regional treaties, the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization said today.
This week, the World Intellectual Property Organization annual General Assemblies will set the priorities and direction for the organisation for the year to come. The Assemblies also have before it approval of WIPO's budget for the next biennium 2016/2017.
Among the many topics at last week’s World Trade Organization Public Forum were panels on o partnerships and on digital trade. This article takes a brief look at two of the panels that touched on intellectual property rights.
COPENHAGEN - Google is “really looking for a balanced IP system,” the company’s head of litigation told the Global Patent Congress, while the European Patent Office elaborated on the “Tomato II” case, which for civil society has become the very symbol of an imbalanced IP system. Intellectual Property Watch spoke with senior officials at both Google and the EPO at the conference.
The ratification of an international convention to fight counterfeit of medical products by Guinea has unlocked the entry into force of the instrument, now set to happen on 1 January 2016.
At a panel at the World Trade Organization organised by the United States Chamber of Commerce, proponents of strong intellectual property protection explained why this protection is key in international trade, even if some might consider the minimum standard set by the WTO IP rules might need an update.
The smartphone is one of the most ubiquitous inventions in contemporary life. Ask anyone from teenagers to senior citizens – in industrialized countries, as well as emerging markets – about the wireless ways of their life, and they will tell you this. But what is the economic impact of mobile? That is not as obvious, writes Antonio Varas.
One of the major imminent changes in the international patent system is the establishment of the Unified Patent Court. The agreement to create this tribunal was signed by 25 European Union States in 2013, and it is foreseen that the Court will be operational by the end of 2016. Setting up of a single tribunal with competence to decide on both validity and infringement disputes is an old European aspiration, and must be seen in the context of the global trend of creating specialized intellectual property tribunals. In this case, the aim is to respond to the high costs, forum shopping and lack of legal certainty that are generally attributed to the current system of adjudicating disputes concerning European patents. Among the many new features of the Court, the presence of technical judges is particularly notable.
Once, hashtags (like #cute_cat) merely identified topics on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media. No longer. A rapidly growing number of companies are using hashtags (like #HowDoYouKFC) as trademarks. There is one problem, however. A court in the US has recently ruled that hashtags can never receive trademark protection.
The London-based International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) today announced that a Russian court has ordered popular Russian social network vKontakte to use technology to effectively block infringement of two record companies.