Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Patent reform, universal health care, and intellectual property rights protection of new health and environmental technologies are critical not only for the biotechnology industry but for improvements in public health, the president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) said Thursday.
A small group of United States congressional staff and officials from the Obama administration working on intellectual property issues were in Geneva this week to discuss IP policy with representatives of intergovernmental organisations and industry, according to sources.
The Year Ahead: Copyright has taken centre stage again this year as the battle over internet service provider (ISP) responsibility for digital piracy intensifies and spreads around the world. 2009 will also feature growing global pressure for a more harmonised system of copyright limitations and exceptions, and continuing controversy over the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch and William New
Changes in several key international agencies and governments will bring a cadre of new faces to positions that address intellectual property policy, and some potential names for those spots have been circulating in recent weeks.
The naming of the new chief of the World Trade Organization IP Division is "imminent," according to sources close to the process. And as US President Barack Obama began his first weeks in office in late January, many IP-related positions also remain unfilled.
By William New
Alicia Greenidge represents a change for the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, but as she grows into her role as the head of the industry's international trade association, it is unclear whether there will be substantive changes on policy relating to intellectual property and public health. Key policy areas include counterfeit medicines and funding for research and development into diseases afflicting poor populations in ways that echo past industry approaches, but Greenidge brings a new focus on networking and negotiation.
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch The United States Chamber of Commerce is calling on President-Elect Barack Obama to fill key intellectual property enforcement posts within the first 100 days of taking office. Meanwhile, other trade associations also…
By William New CHISINAU, MOLDOVA – Creativity may not be the first thing that comes to mind when travelling through the kilometres of mostly grey, Soviet-era cement-block buildings outlying the capital of Moldova, often referred to as Europe’s poorest state.…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
Trademark owners are not likely to benefit from the approval by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) of a predicted 500 new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs), industry speakers said at a 25 November Web seminar on protecting and promoting brands online. Potential risks include the need for defensive domain-name registrations in many TLDs and the lack of an effective procedure for resolving disputes, they said.
By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch
BRUSSELS - Computer firms may be required to divulge details of patents they hold before technology standards are set, a senior European Commission official has said.
More than a year after the European Court of Justice ruled that Microsoft was abusing its dominant position in order to prevent its products being compatible with programmes developed by rivals, Brussels policymakers are continuing to assess what implications the judgment has for intellectual property and antitrust law.
Par Dugie Standeford pour Intellectual Property Watch LA HAGUE, PAYS-BAS – L’association américaine du droit de propriété intellectuelle (American Intellectual Property Law Association-AIPLA) va devoir relever des défis politiques, législatifs et administratifs de grande ampleur dans les prochains mois, comme…