Original news and analysis on international IP policy
China is expected to implement changes that will allow foreign distributors to import audiovisual entertainment products in China without trade being narrowed by state-owned channels after it lost its dispute case against the United States at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The recommendations of the dispute settlement panel and the Appellate Body were adopted today by the WTO Dispute Settlement Body.
Il s’agit d’une utilisation peu conventionnelle de la loi sur le droit d’auteur, mais si Omega SA gagne son procès devant la Cour suprême des États-Unis, le célèbre horloger suisse aura conçu une nouvelle arme puissante contre l’importation de produits du marché gris sur le sol américain.
2010 could be a big year for intellectual property law in the United States. Five cases now working their way through the courts may bring major changes to the country’s patent and copyright laws, affect hundreds billions of dollars in commerce, and enable a revolutionary new use for the internet.
It’s an unconventional use of copyright law. But if Omega SA wins its case before the US Supreme Court, the famous Swiss watch company will have established a powerful new weapon against grey market goods in that country.
A balancing of the rights of authors and consumers, the re-introduction of a private copying exception, a remixing permission and a new regulatory agency for copyright issues are among the core points the Brazilian Ministry of Culture has planned for the new copyright law. But at the Third Conference on Copyright and the Public Interest in São Paulo a month ago, the Ministry emphasised that the bits and pieces shown to the audience were not from an actual law draft ("anteprojeto") but only a preliminary proposal for formulating such a draft. The bill still has not been published to date. The delay in releasing the bill for public consultation now threatens the work of more than two years on the reform.
La récente décision d’un juge argentin d’abandonner les poursuites engagées contre un professeur de philosophie accusé de violation de droit d’auteur est considérée par les défenseurs de la cause de l’accès aux œuvres comme un nouveau moyen d’attirer l’attention sur les problèmes liés au droit d’auteur en Amérique Latine.
An Argentinean judge’s recent decision to drop charges against a philosophy professor for alleged copyright infringement is being seen as a stepping stone to drawing attention to copyright issues in Latin America, according to advocates.
Professor Horacio Potel created open source websites to post foreign philosophers’ work in Spanish. The websites were named “Nietzsche in Spanish,” “Heidegger in Spanish,” and “Derrida in Spanish.”
European Union governments have unanimously approved a roadmap for a single European patent regime. The system is seen as key to making patenting less expensive and more efficient for European inventors, but the devil, as always, is in the details, stakeholders say.
“In international law we like metaphors,” said William Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel at Google and author of the recent book Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars. One of the most pervasive of these is “a rising tide lifts all boats,” a metaphor whose danger lies in appearing logical. But making theory into copyright policy will benefit neither content creators nor those interested in preserving access to knowledge, he said.
For years, the United States has taken an expansive position on the types of inventions that are patentable. Software, medical tests, and business methods - for example - have all been granted patents. But that is likely to change when the US Supreme Court hands down its decision in Bilski v. Kappos, according to most members of a 19 November panel, Patentable Subject Matter After the Bilski Oral Argument, hosted by American University Law School and the Federal Circuit Bar Association.
Brazil has announced the list of 222 American products that could suffer retaliation with tariff rates of more than 100 percent of the value when imported to Brazil. The list could be followed by another including potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in non-tariff items related to intellectual property rights such as lower-priced patented pharmaceuticals.
Conservative US radio talk show host Glenn Beck, known for bad-mouthing others on radio and opposition television station Fox News, has lost a case at the World Intellectual Property Organization trying to force the takedown of website parodying him, www.GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com.