Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Munich - A controversial update to German copyright law providing for an auxiliary protection for tiny extracts from press articles has been finally passed by the German Upper House (“Bundesrat”).
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) yesterday notified the US Congress of its intent to negotiate a free trade agreement with the European Union. And in case there was any doubt, among the negotiating objectives will be to raise the level of intellectual property rights protection and enforcement.
Neelie Kroes, European Commission vice-president responsible for the digital agenda, today told a parliamentary committee that choices of copyrighted content, cloud computing, internet freedom, and cybersecurity are key to European values and its economy.
Lahore, Pakistan - Weak regulation of the local pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan, including non-enforcement of intellectual property rights and the absence of a simple and swift dispute resolution mechanism, have hit the country’s health sector badly, industry sources say.
The Second Chamber of the European General Court in a judgment today strengthened confidentiality rules in international treaty negotiations.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - In a re-cast, smaller version of the event that was planned and postponed last year, the US State Department’s workshop on IP utilisation and protection in Africa opened yesterday. It is co-organised by the African Intellectual Property Group (AIPG), a new pro-IP association of stakeholders across the continent, which says it’s time for Africa find its own voice on intellectual property issues.
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) announced on 19 March a two-year partnership on non-communicable diseases.
Today, the United States Supreme Court handed US copyright owners a stinging defeat. The decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons dramatically slashes the ability of US copyright owners to control copies of their works. And in so doing, the 6-3 decision blows a huge hole in the global marketing strategy of movie, TV, book and software companies.
In a press briefing at the United Nations today, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry described what he qualified as a robust growth in applications for patents, designs and trademarks despite the economic climate.
Cape Town, South Africa - Professor Charles Gielen, an insider in the epic design war between Apple and Samsung, has described the hostile standoff between the two corporate giants as a shape-shifting space for intellectual property laws following the different interpretations of IP law the case has evoked from the courts.
Tuberculosis is now a renewed threat, with strains that prove resistant to multiple drugs and are transmissible and the potential to spread widely, according to the World Health Organization and the Global Fund, which are looking for US$1.6 billion a year to prevent the spread of the disease.
Upwards of 50 civil society groups have issued a declaration asking for the exclusion of all forms of intellectual property rights from the upcoming Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the United States. They raised significant concerns about the potential effect of IP rights’ inclusion on the public interest in the countries involved.