Original news and analysis on international IP policy
After several hours in informal consultations, delegates attending the 42nd session of the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly (and 22nd Extraordinary Session) came out of the room this evening with good news.
The World Intellectual Property Organization is on the verge of deciding on a high-level meeting paving the way for a new treaty to facilitate access to books to visually impaired people. Meanwhile, in Africa, far from plenary discussions, the situation on the ground reveals a dire need for change.
An Extraordinary General Assembly will take place tomorrow at the World Intellectual Property Organization to decide on convening a high-level meeting in 2013 to agree on a treaty on exceptions and limitations to copyright for visually impaired people, enabling them to have a better access to works in special formats.
Dubai, UAE - A mere resolution, not part of the future International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR), led to yet another escalation at the ongoing World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai last night.
The launch of the weeklong Indian film festival at the World Intellectual Property Organization last week brought together different speakers who stressed the importance of copyright protection for the safeguarding and development of the Indian film industry and who characterised unauthorised downloading as a danger for the industry.
Dubai, UAE - The internet is not completely out of the first consolidated draft proposal for the future International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR) that was introduced late on 11 December at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai.
More broadband rollout and better access to networks everywhere – that’s a position shared by participants at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), which started last week in Dubai. And this is where the consensus ends, according to a more sceptical reading on progress made in negotiations to review the future International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR).
The European Commission today (5 December) agreed on a process to ensure copyright is best suited for the digital age with the aim of possible legislative reform in 2014. Commissioners in a meeting decided to launch a stakeholder dialogue immediately, and to complete market studies, impact assessment and legal drafting work.
A diverse group of more than two dozen groups representing libraries, digital civil liberties, free software and an open, user-friendly internet has called on European commissioners to refrain from overly restrictive copyright licensing policies and to consider flexibilities to copyright to encourage knowledge access. The commissioners were expected to meet today to discuss possible changes to EU copyright law.
The World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT) has affirmed the right to freedom of information online, the secretariat of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said in a press release on day two in Dubai, Qatar, where over 160 country delegations since yesterday are talking about the future global telecommunications rules.
The United States now stands alone in its opposition to a World Intellectual Property Organization treaty on copyright exceptions for blind and and other print-disabled readers, the World Blind Union (WBU) said today.
During the joint news conference held in Paris on 27 November by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Medvedev was asked a question of legislative scrutiny with regard to internet regulation in Russia. In his reply, the Russian prime minister admitted that the current legislation regulating the internet is “imperfect” and called upon the international community to “consider parameters to regulate the operation of the internet on the national or international level.”