Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation has announced he will introduce legislation that would allow consumers to control the collection and use of their personal information by online companies. The bill would include the possibility of enforcement action against non-complying companies.
US Assistant Secretary for Commerce Larry Strickling said yesterday the Obama administration expects all issues to be resolved before the internet is opened to a large number of new top-level domains. And he hinted that the US might reconsider the special role of the internet coordination body if it does not comply.
With the internet moving beyond connected computers to a new world of mobile-connected machines and objects, it is time to make the internet more capable of handling future data-streams, with increased accuracy, resiliency, and safety, the European Commission said today. In response, the Commission committed €300 million euros over 5 years, to be matched by European research, public sector and industry contributions, for innovation and helping European businesses and government find new internet solutions.
A new ruling from Texas against Google found patent infringement in some of its use of open-source Linux code, a decision that could affect the use of Linux and other open source systems that build upon it, according to a news source.
With new European Union rules on telecommunications set to take effect next month, the European Commission today adopted a report which it said further commits it to principles of openness and neutrality on the internet.
Free culture leader and Harvard University law professor Larry Lessig was at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) yesterday to talk about access to scientific knowledge on internet. In the symbolic place where the World Wide Web was invented and where scientists are now trying to unravel the creation of the universe, Lessig praised CERN’s open access initiative and in this temple of reasoning, said the copyright architecture was on the edge of absurdity.
A new technology purports to help users of websites taken down by the United States government to easily find the sites again when they resurface elsewhere.
In its slick new office building in Geneva, the World Intellectual Property Organization this week celebrated the 2 millionth patent filing under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, which it manages. In the foyer with white clad windows, a crowd was assembled to hear the praise of the international patent filing system.
A European Commission-backed project to identify copyright holders and define orphan works - whose copyright owners cannot be found - recently presented its results and is heading to a second phase with more partners. The project advances the European effort at digitalising content through the Europeana project, a competing project to the Google Books project.
Governments meeting last week to discuss a possible new treaty on industrial design harmonisation snagged slightly at the end over how to chart a course to a treaty negotiation, but otherwise reported a smooth week of talks. Officials also agreed to plan a meeting on internet service provider liability.
Filing complaints about cybersquatting, which the World Intellectual Property Organization defines as the “abusive registration of trademarks as domain names,” is on an upward trend, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said today. Meanwhile, WIPO also launched a review of its dispute panellists.
World Intellectual Property Organization members congregated this week to advance work on a potential treaty on industrial designs, and to look into trademark protection against infringement on the internet, including through social media. But they ended early after nominal progress in these promising new areas for the United Nations agency.