Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) needs to become a 21st century organisation, and open its door to multiple stakeholders on internet governance issues and policy, according to speakers at a session of the Internet Governance Forum this week.
The Internet Society has participated in the Internet Governance Forum since its inception. Since then, the forum has been able to build trusted relationships with the different groups of stakeholders, but it should be able to attract more participants from all those groups of stakeholders, such as ministers and CEOs, according to Constance Bommalaer, senior director of Global Policy of the Internet Society. Bommalaer sat down with Intellectual Property Watch’s Catherine Saez in the margins of this week’s Internet Governance Forum in Geneva to explain the pressing issues of internet governance, such as the trust issue, and the internet of things, and the work of the Internet Society to bring tangible answers.
The recent decision by the Trump administration in the United States rolling back the internet neutrality is of concern and in the long term could have effects beyond US borders, David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, told a press briefing today. He also commented on the negative effect of the social media model, in particular Facebook on small independent media outlets, but said the issue of the control of the internet is not limited to Silicon Valley companies.
Microsoft on 19 December presented its Digital Geneva Convention during the 12th Internet Governance Forum in Geneva. With cybersecurity being one of the top issues at the forum, the company received a lot of interest for the idea of developing the convention as a multi-stakeholder draft. But there were also voices of caution from individual governments as well network-operating people.
The Internet Governance Forum opened yesterday at the United Nations in Geneva, coming back to its origins, and as the opening ceremony resounded with Swiss alphorn, speakers insisted on the urgency to find fresh solutions to internet-related new issues. Cyber security, digital divide, influence of private companies, lack of digital literacy, the challenges are numerous, and solutions require a multi-stakeholder collective effort, the speakers said in unison.
The mood was conciliatory this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization patent law committee as delegates mainly shared experiences and heard presentations. The five topics composing the work of the committee, which had been carefully negotiated in the summer and reflecting a “delicate balance” of interest between countries, will be pursued at the next session. Among them are the topics of patents and health, technology transfer, and the quality of patents.
After two decades of intellectual property regimes in trade agreements, one could have some second thoughts, according to a number of panellists at the Trade and Sustainable Development Symposium, organised by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and held alongside the 11th World Trade Organization Ministerial in Buenos Aires, Argentina this week.
A newly released report by the wide-ranging joint London Declaration initiative to fight neglected tropical diseases shows progress in elimination of diseases and the number of people treated. However, in order to reach universal health coverage, efforts have to be intensified, according to the World Health Organization director general. The pharmaceutical industry, meanwhile, said it is ready to live up to its pledge made five years ago and expand donations programmes.
The World Intellectual Property Organization provides legislative assistance to countries upon request. This week during the meeting of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents, the secretariat explained how WIPO provides this legislative assistance. This followed a 2015 proposal to revise WIPO’s 1979 Model Law for developing countries on inventions. The proposal was not accepted by developed countries concerned over the extent of the task, and some pointing out that WIPO is delivering more effective tailored legislative assistance.
The 11th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (MC11) ended without a joint ministerial declaration and without progress in some of the important agenda points on the table. Instead several groups of “friends” announced they would push ahead independently, with 71 members including the United States and the European Union announcing they will “initiate exploratory work together toward future WTO negotiations on trade related aspects of electronic commerce.”