US Makes New Exemptions To Digital Millennium Copyright Act Provision
The United States has made new exemptions to a provision in its copyright law that prohibits the circumvention of technological measures to gain access to protected digital works.
Intellectual Property Watch
Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Category Information and Communications Technology/ Broadcasting
In Search of Relevance, Not Solutions: The Truth About ITU’s ‘Patent Roundtable’
Meetings at UN agencies in Geneva are not often mainstream news - but given the high profile nature of legal disputes about smartphone and tablet technology taking place around the world, a meeting to discuss an arcane area of patent policy - the ITU Patent Roundtable - was widely covered, as it brought together some of the titans of the mobile and internet industry plus government regulators and standards bodies.
Governments Weigh Options On New Top-Level Domains At ICANN
Governments have been considering their options with regard to intervening against applications for new generic top level domains, which are currently being processed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).
WIPO Members Inch Toward Visually Impaired Treaty
After three days of mostly informal discussions and a set of succeeding draft texts of what could become a treaty for visually impaired persons, World Intellectual Property Organization members tonight closed discussions with yet another version of the text showing agreement in some areas and work still to be done.
Sources: European Telecom Operators’ Proposals Run Aground At WCIT
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch European Telecommunications and Network Operators (ETNO) proposals for accounting changes between internet providers – namely a “sender-party-pays regime” and provisions to foster end-to-end quality of service management on the net – did not…
US Court Rules On Fair Use For Blind Users, Digitisation, Amid Treaty Talks
Coinciding with the marathon negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organization for a potential treaty for the visually-impaired persons, a United States court handed down a ruling this month that goes in favour of copyright exceptions in the digitisation of books for the purposes of preservation, text search and access for the blind.
Subscriber Update: New Document On Visually Impaired Treaty At WIPO
A new working document on an international instrument on copyright limitations and exceptions for visually impaired persons being negotiated at the World Intellectual Property Organization has been issued this morning. The document is below.
Pro-Music Re-Launched After Nine Years
Pro-Music, the international alliance of various stakeholders in the music industry promoting the use of legal services on the internet, has moved to give its website a facelift, nine years after it was launched back in 2003.
EU Rights Owners Blast ICT Industry For Trying To “Hijack” Copyright Levy System Talks
Copyright collective management and creators' organisations Monday accused digital technology industry group DIGITALEUROPE of trying to hijack a mediation process aimed at straightening out the EU's messy system of private copying and reprographic levies. In its 4 October paper setting out alternatives to device-based copyright levies, DIGITALEUROPE urged the European Commission to initiate comprehensive reform that includes replacing levies with some other forms of compensation to rights holders.
New ICANN CEO Promises More Transparency And Balance
The new CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Fadi Chehadé, today announced a new structure to enhance transparency, visibility and balance of the private net managing body to be presented on the opening day of the Toronto meeting.
Russian Social Network vKontakte Held Liable For Copyright Infringement A Second Time
This week, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and Leningradskaya Oblast announced a decision holding vKontakte, the Russian largest social network, liable for copyright infringement. This is the second case between the parties in which the court sided with the right holder following a decision earlier this year.
ITU Undertakes Work On Standards Essential Patents
The United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has tasked an expert group on intellectual property rights with coming up with ways to update ITU patent policy with an eye toward clarifying litigation involving “standards-essential patents.”