Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Australia is poised to become the first country to make copyright infringement a “no-fault” offence, a move aimed at broadening criminal penalties for infringement. The change is part of sweeping revisions intended to…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Submissions to the World Health Organization (WHO) online public consultation on the intergovernmental working group on public health, innovation and intellectual property show that the debate is quite polarised, and that the group is therefore…
By William New A panel of key Geneva actors on policy related to intellectual property rights and public health on 14 November gave a range of views on the World Trade Organization Doha Declaration five years after its agreement. Several…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A World Health Organization (WHO) director has taken the unusual step of writing a memorandum directly to the head of the WHO, seeking clarity on the organisation’s handling of a United States complaint involving WHO…
By William New Development and Internet governance issues may have gotten a boost at the United Nations International Telecommunication Union today as members elected Hamadoun Touré of Mali to be the next Secretary-General. Touré has been director of the ITU…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen BRUSSELS – When the European Commission’s plan to include neglected diseases in its next research programme was debated at a conference here, intellectual property rights played a rather small role. This is a good sign,…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Margaret Chan of Hong Kong (China) has been elected the next director general of the World Health Organization by a large majority of member governments, according to sources. “It is not a surprise that Chan…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen and William New The report from a September meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) developed country group reveals its behind-the-scenes strategy for handling a proposed development agenda at WIPO. The WIPO General Assembly…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a short list of five candidates for the post of director general, sources said. The list includes: China, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico and Spain. A number of sources have…
By William New ATHENS – The World Summit on the Information Society told the world to build “dynamic” coalitions to address problems related to the Internet, and this week, the world responded. At the four-day Internet Governance Forum here ending…
The candidates for next week's election to succeed UN International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi are not following his platform of drawing international pressure to change the US-centric Internet domain name system.
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen At a recent World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, Switzerland questioned an earlier proposal by Norway to link WTO intellectual property rules with the protection of biodiversity. But Peru, as one of the demanders of such…