Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Intellectual Property Organization is currently engaged in an unprecedented process for the selection of the new top management team to serve under recently re-elected Director General Francis Gurry. The open call for applicants resulted in some 360 applications from around the world, including from the upper echelons of WIPO itself, according to sources.
At its recent session, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on the promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on the internet. It also addressed a legally binding instrument on corporations’ responsibility to ensure human rights.
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee on genetic resources and traditional knowledge routinely holds an indigenous panel during the first day of its meeting. This week, several of the panellists called for delegates working on potential treaties to consider the particular status of indigenous peoples.
The participation of representatives of indigenous and local communities in the World Intellectual Property Organization committee working to prevent misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge is in jeopardy due to the thorough depletion of the voluntary fund allowing such participation. Some governments are acting to save the committee's credibility.
For the second time this year, the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee could not agree on the conclusions of its session or on any recommendation to be made to the September General Assembly on the protection of broadcasting organisations or the establishment of an international regime of exception and limitations for libraries and education.
Over the last few months search engines around the world have been keeping an active eye on the developments of the landmark case ruled by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) requiring Google to consider individuals’ requests to remove links that they say infringe on their privacy.
A group of African civil society institutions is calling for a revision of the draft protocol on plant variety protection of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation.
The World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee has agreed to split its week between work on a proposed treaty to protect broadcasters’ rights and efforts to provide copyright exceptions for libraries, archives, and research and educational institutions. It also has lined up many side events throughout the week.
The term of European Patent Office (EPO) President Benoît Battistelli has been extended for three years to 30 June 2018. The vote by the European Patent Organisation Administrative Council strongly backed Battistelli's quality and efficiency reforms, but sparked unhappiness from staff who see the president as a “dictator”.
In a widely publicised case last month, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) applied the “right to be forgotten,” requesting that internet search engines, under certain circumstances, delist links to personal data upon request. The court’s decision establishes a contentious balance between the right to privacy and the public’s right to access to information. The ECJ left this balance to search engines to implement on a case-by-case basis. While some argue in favour of these decisions, others fear the larger worldwide implications that cases are leading to.
While the last decade has been characterised by an explosion in the availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs), in 2014 the digital divide still exists and 4 billion people are not yet connected to the internet, especially those from the developing world. In order to achieve digital inclusion for all, speakers on a recent panel called for support for equal public access to ICTs notably through public libraries and other community centres.
While in 2015 nearly 3 billion internet users will be connected across the world, their experiences once they are online will vary considerably according to their country. To find ways to bring everyone up to the same speed and have the same user experience, worldwide remedies were discussed at the occasion of the launch of the Global Internet Report 2014 – “Open and Sustainable Access for All.”