Original news and analysis on international IP policy
In the run-up to next week’s meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a lobby group promoting the recognition and the protection of geographical indications has sent a letter to ICANN requesting that better consideration be given to GI owners' rights under ICANN’s programme of new domain names.
Prof. Owen Dean writes: Warner/Chappel Music, a music publishing company in the United States of America, claims and exerts copyright in the ubiquitous song “Happy Birthday to You”. It requires that royalty payments should be made to it each and every time this song is sung or used in public. This is a startling proposition as most people probably assume that the song is in the public domain and is free for use by all. An American documentary film maker agrees and is objecting to having to pay royalties to include the song in a film. It has consequently commenced legal proceedings before the US court seeking a declaration that the song is out of copyright and in the public domain. These court proceeding are currently attracting attention world-wide due to their somewhat bizarre nature. Meanwhile, under a bill in South Africa, celebrants of birthdays who do not obtain the necessary licence for singing “Happy Birthday” may in future bring the full wrath of the law down upon themselves through their unlawful conduct. Moreover, this situation could prevail in perpetuity.
The European Commission has prepared a draft regulation to implement an international protocol to prevent biopiracy, leading two non-governmental organisations to publish an opinion piece voicing concerns about it. The European Parliament is scheduled to review the draft on 4 July. A key concern is whether it would cover non-European genetic resources already in European collections.
The German Parliament on 27-28 June passed several changes to German copyright law and introduced limits and a financial cap on how much lawyers can charge for notices against file-sharers.
Hundreds of European publishers have issued a call for the European Commission to reject draft remedies put forward by Google to settle concerns about market dominance in web searching and search advertising.
Marrakesh, Morocco - A breakthrough was reached over the weekend in the World Intellectual Property Organization negotiations to provide more access to visually impaired people, according to participating sources. Agreement appears to have been struck on the controversial issue of restrictions to the exceptions to copyright that the treaty is proposing to establish.
A large portion of the United States Congress this week signed on to a letter to President Obama criticising India for its treatment of intellectual property rights.
For several years, research at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law (MPI) – in collaboration with experts from all over the world – has examined the trend of bilateral and regional agreements that include provisions on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
A new coalition of United States business groups, called the Alliance for Fair Trade with India (ATFI), launched today to take aim against what they say are discriminatory trade practices in India against US exports.
In their traditional communiqué, Group of Eight countries at their annual summit welcomed ongoing efforts to negotiate bilateral and multilateral trade deals which they say will allow them to overcome economic uncertainties and shoulder the responsibility to support prosperity worldwide.
During day one of the Summit of the G8 countries at Lough Erne Golf Resort in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland today, President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and the President of the European Commission, Manuel Barroso, jointly announced the formal start of negotiations of the US-EU free trade agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
Infojustice.org examines the evolving responsibilities of the US International Trade Commission (ITC) and its decision to bar imports of older Apple iPhones and iPads, finding that they infringed patents held by Samsung.