Category ITU/ICANN

IP Owners Face Tough Legal Issues In United States In 2009

By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch
2009 could be a bad year for IP owners in the United States.

For patent owners, it may be particularly tough. The US courts are likely to continue their recent trend of cutting back on patent rights, according to many experts. The question is: what rights may be cut back and by how much?

Copyright and trademark owners in the United States face a different set of troubles. They are struggling to protect their rights in the digital world, and it is far from certain how they will fare.

Internet Governance Forum: ACTA A Possible Show-Stopper For IP Progress

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The third annual United Nations-led Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, India this month addressed a range of topics related to intellectual property rights and the free flow of information, and provided a venue…

UN Internet Governance Forum 2008: Friends And Foes, But More Friends

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch HYDERABAD, INDIA – The Internet Governance Forum of the United Nations is halfway through its first term and starting to think about its future after 2010. Gathering in Hyderabad, India this week, it…

Brand Owners Urge Caution On New Top-Level Internet Domain Names

By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
Trademark owners are not likely to benefit from the approval by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) of a predicted 500 new generic top-level domain names (gTLDs), industry speakers said at a 25 November Web seminar on protecting and promoting brands online. Potential risks include the need for defensive domain-name registrations in many TLDs and the lack of an effective procedure for resolving disputes, they said.

Controversy Over Internet Governance: ITU Families And ICANN Cosmetics?

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The Council of the UN International Telecommunication Union is set to talk Wednesday about the Union’s contribution to follow-up of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the third Internet Governance…

ICANN Tries To Alleviate Concerns About Independence And Its Future

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch In September 2009, the joint project agreement between the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the United States government comes to a close. Now the organisation responsible for coordinating the…

Industry Still Wary Of ICANN Plan For New Top-Level Internet Domains

By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has not adequately explained to the world the need for more generic top-level domains (gTLDs – such as .com), industry representatives said last…

Can Non-Western Language Internet Addresses Solve The Digital Divide? The Case Of Arabic Language

By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch Arab information technology experts have welcomed a recent development in internet governance that could allow the use of Arabic script website addresses, saying it will help to protect Arabic culture, remove the language…

US: We Will Not Give Up Oversight Of Internet Domain Name Root Zone

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The Bush administration has no intention of giving up United States oversight role of the management of the central root zone of the internet domain name system (DNS), the essential database storing information…

Work Remains For ICANN’s New Top Level Internet Domains

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch PARIS – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced the “biggest extension of the DNS [domain name system] in 40 years” after its decision last week to finish implementation of…