Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By William New BERLIN – Wikipedia, the popular community-driven online encyclopedia, is doomed to “amateurism” and should be complemented by a more serious effort, says one of the project’s creators who announced plans to launch an alternative. Larry Sanger, chief…
By William New A proposal to negotiate a treaty to expand the rights of broadcasters and cablecasters cleared a key committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization on 13 September despite outstanding disagreements among committee members. “The draft basic proposal…
By William New A proposed treaty to strengthen rights for broadcasters faces a critical test next week at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Government negotiators are under pressure to finish preliminary work on a draft treaty before the 25 September…
By William New The impact of intellectual property policy on innovation and development may have been overstated, and a framework is needed for analysing the linkage between these concepts in developing countries, according to a United Nations researcher. While intellectual…
By Frederick Noronha for Intellectual Property Watch NEW DELHI – For a judge, Yatindra Singh of India’s Allahabad high court is surprisingly outspoken. For a member of the bench, he is also amazingly tech-savvy. And as he talks technology, or…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch A Swedish political movement seeking drastic changes to intellectual property law is resonating internationally, according to a spokesman for the group called the Pirate Party. The party, whose platform calls for fair and…
By Frederick Noronha for Intellectual Property Watch NEW DELHI – What do seeds have in common with software? Or age-old medicines with copyright lawyers? And, what’s the link between ayurvedic medicines and techies talking free software in Bangalore? Such issues…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The 5 September deadline to fill the top leadership post at the World Health Organization (WHO) is drawing nearer and at least eight candidates have been put forward, of which six are from developing countries…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A second attempt in Kenya to restrict intellectual property flexibilities meant to safeguard access to medicines has most likely been defeated, largely due to opposition from an interagency task force and civil society groups, local…
US Trade Representative Susan Schwab announced on 7 August a review of a key programme offering duty-free access for products exported by developing countries to the US market. The review will look at whether key trading partners still should be…
Brazil has published a list of more than 5,000 generic terms from the Portuguese language related to Brazilian plant biological diversity to raise awareness and prevent further misuse of trademarks that hinder Brazilian exports. The Brazilian government has been, and…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The United States government does not want to retain “all [its] historic roles” in the technical oversight of the Internet domain name system (DNS), a senior Bush administration official said this week. But…