Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which coordinates the global domain name system, is in the process of reforming its core bodies, and consumer representatives and others see a possibility to inject more balance into the international organisation’s stakeholder groups long dominated by a range of private sector representatives.
The World Health Organization global strategy on health and intellectual property includes powerful and potentially paradigm-shifting elements, but it also has notable shortcomings for human rights, says a new document prepared for the United Nations group responsible for the right to development.
An interview with Marshall Phelps, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for intellectual property policy and strategy and a mastermind behind IBM’s and Microsoft’s massive IP valuations, and David Kline, journalist, author and intellectual property consultant, on their new book, "Burning The Ships," which looks inside Microsoft's IP strategy.
Les parlements suédois et de l’Union européenne appellent actuellement la Commission européenne à rendre publics tous les documents liés à un traité international anti-contrefaçon gardé confidentiel, après que les États-Unis ont affirmé que ces textes relèvent de la sécurité nationale et donc du secret d’État. Cependant, ces derniers ont aujourd’hui décidé de revoir leur politique de transparence.
Sweeping patent reform legislation cleared a key United States Senate committee Thursday and is now headed for a vote on the Senate floor after compromises were reached on key sticking points in the bill.
Sidney Rosenzweig of the Progress & Freedom Foundation writes that some countries, such as China, want to take advantage of new environmental technologies without having to pay, and are advocating the use of compulsory licences to access them.
LONDON—Leaders of the world’s largest economies struck a closed-door deal late Tuesday to create an international court for intellectual property litigation in a move sources said they deemed a best effort to turn back global economic demise.
The Obama administration’s new trade team has quickly come under pressure to focus on protecting United States interests, including enforcement of intellectual property rights, at a time when multilateral institutions urge governments to remain open for the sake of the global economy.
The European Commission this week will launch a forum for coordinating attacks against counterfeit and pirated goods, to be announced at a daylong event featuring representatives from a wide range of industries. No representatives of the public interest or consumers appear to be included in the event or related initiatives.
Several German ministries seem to be in a footrace to draft legal text for a filtering regime blocking child pornography from German users’ personal computers agreed by the government last week.
Five new studies on select patent-related topics and informal, open-ended consultations on global issues are the key elements of future work for a World Intellectual Property Organization committee that wrapped up its meeting late Friday.
Georg Greve of Free Software Foundation Europe makes the case that software fails a three-step test to determine patentability.