Original news and analysis on international IP policy
World Intellectual Property Organization members this week agreed to a year-long plan to intensively negotiate for a legal instrument(s) on the protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore. Next year’s annual WIPO assembly in October will decide on whether to schedule a diplomatic conference to finalise the instrument.
Internet firms continue to drive global economic growth and job increases in the information technology sector, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found in a new report.
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Google Inc. have reached a settlement in a seven-year copyright dispute involving the Google Library Project, allowing the inclusion of copyrighted digital works.
The Union Cabinet of India has approved ratification of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-Sharing, a measure that provides a tool against biopiracy. The 4 October action comes on the eve of the 11th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The majority of member states of the 185-strong World Intellectual Property Organization have thrown their support for the fast-tracked negotiation of a new treaty or other instrument that sets limitations and exceptions to copyright for the benefit of the visually-impaired and those with print disabilities
Member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization yesterday approved all but one application for international non-governmental observer status at the UN agency: Pirate Parties International. This is likely to lead to a discussion of who can be an observer, sources say.
The United States government has announced the release of more than $2.4 million in grants to 13 US jurisdictions for stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights.
The Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Physics (CERN) has collaborated with funding agencies and libraries of 29 countries to make freely available access to otherwise expensive scientific articles in the field of particle physics.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors without Borders) today announced the launch of the “Patent Opposition Database,” an online resource to help patient groups or others to oppose wrongful patent applications as a way to ensure access remains open for affordable generic drugs.
The nine countries asked by a United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur to respond to a complaint over the alleged secret and bureaucratic negotiations for the draft Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement either failed to respond or defended the backdoor talks, according to the advocacy group Knowledge Ecology International (KEI).
The World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body today established a panel to review a complaint filed by Ukraine against Australia for a tobacco plain-packaging law aimed at discouraging tobacco use.
A new industry analysis highlights the continued decline in print advertising revenues, but offers a glimpse of possibilities for the recovery of the industry in light of the various technology-driven changes and developments in the global media market. New laws or new exceptions to copyright laws, however, are not seen as ways to save the print industry, at least in Europe, according to the report.