Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Among the Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis in Geneva this week, high-level representatives of the auto industry, the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) discussed issues of safety, data sharing and standardisation.
New business models for reducing markets for counterfeit and pirated goods were presented by speakers at the WIPO Advisory Committee on Enforcement this week, including voluntary mechanisms and graduated responses. But prices on brand name products was a little-explored issue during the presentations, only underlined as a possible factor of piracy by one developing country delegation.
A growing number of countries are signing the new World Intellectual Property Organization treaty on copyright exceptions aimed at boosting access to special format books for visually impaired persons. Parallel to the treaty and pre-dating it, a WIPO-led initiative of interested stakeholders is continuing its efforts to also boost access to such works, including through licence agreements.
The Snowden revelations have spurred yet another discussion on how to internationalise or globalise the oversight over the management of core infrastructures of the internet, namely the so-called IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) functions. Why not let the private sector decide?
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Working Group on Enhanced Cooperation held what was supposed to be its last meeting in Geneva on 24-28 February. However, as explained below, the group failed to agree certain key issues, so it agreed to meet again on 7-9 May. Richard Hill offers an explanation.
During a visit to France last week, Fadi Chehadé, the CEO and president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), announced that his Board of Directors has given him the green light to further explore reforms of ICANN. Among them is the possibility of creating a parallel ICANN international structure, likely based in Geneva.
The United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today released a report detailing the US Food and Drug Administration's "highly-invasive" surveillance programme that monitored employees who contacted Congress and the media, according to a press release from the committee leaders. Surveillance was unauthorised and whistleblowers were not given sufficient protection, the report found.
The United States, home to the organisation that oversees technical aspects of the internet domain name system, has advice for an upcoming meeting in Brazil aimed at revisiting the global internet governance: consider principles developed in past meetings, and don't retread old sore spots. In other words, don't disrupt the status quo.
There have been several important developments related to copyright in the European Union in the past week. Below is a summary.
A recent report predicts the loss of at least $100 billion per year in intellectual property globally by 2018 as a result of 3D printing.
The European Parliament (EP) is scheduled to vote on 24 February on the draft Single Telecoms Package Regulation drafted by the Industry, Research and Energy Committee - on the future of neutral internet.
From infojustice.org: [Australian Digital Alliance] It has been a big week for Australian Copyright. On Thursday the Attorney-General, the Hon George Brandis QC, tabled the long-anticipated final report from the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) Copyright and the Digital Economy inquiry. This inquiry was charged with determining if copyright exceptions and limitations were working in the digital age. The conclusion was that reform was needed.