Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Microsoft, a strong advocate of intellectual property protection, has launched an online IP portal in Kenya with the aim of helping innovators better understand different means of protecting their software and reap the economic benefits of their innovations. The initiative is planned to spread to other African countries.
An Indian pharmaceutical industry group has challenged the United States Trade Representative’s assessment of India’s intellectual property protection regime and suggested that India received more severe treatment than other countries solely on the basis of treatment of patented pharmaceuticals that it says is allowed under international rules.
As the governments of the largest emerging economies gather this week in Brazil, a civil society coalition has issued a call for them to lead change in the global system of internet governance in light of revelations of mass surveillance. The groups provide suggestions for constructing a system that ensures human rights, equity and social justice for all people.
The World Intellectual Property Organization is currently engaged in an unprecedented process for the selection of the new top management team to serve under recently re-elected Director General Francis Gurry. The open call for applicants resulted in some 360 applications from around the world, including from the upper echelons of WIPO itself, according to sources.
While exceptions and limitations for librarians and archives are under negotiation at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week, librarians and archivists called on WIPO delegates to address an issue of contract licences for digital content, which they say often override such exceptions and limitations.
A group of African civil society institutions is calling for a revision of the draft protocol on plant variety protection of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation.
The World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committeebegan a week of discussions with delegates trying to decide what rights the treaty protecting broadcasting organisations should confer and if it should include internet transmissions. At the outset, a proposal to include industry…
With the publication of the European Commission’s white paper on copyright due as soon as the beginning of July,as announced by the Commissioner Michel Barnier, the European Publishers Council (EPC) presented their own "Copyright Vision."
In this interview, Intellectual Property Watch sat down with Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, DC-based policy think tank, to talk about his book, “Innovation Economics: The Race for Global Advantage,” co-authored with Stephen Ezell.
The book addresses US economic strategies and policies, or lack thereof, relating to innovation and technology, in comparison with past and present policies of other nations. It identifies “good” and “bad” national policies, the latter promoting national innovation at the expense of other countries and global efforts for innovation. The authors argue the US is falling behind in the innovation race, and sets out a road map for recovery.
While the last decade has been characterised by an explosion in the availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs), in 2014 the digital divide still exists and 4 billion people are not yet connected to the internet, especially those from the developing world. In order to achieve digital inclusion for all, speakers on a recent panel called for support for equal public access to ICTs notably through public libraries and other community centres.