Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Preparations for transitioning the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – with core elements of the global internet - out of United States oversight do not appear to on track for the 30 September deadline. As a result, cautious pressure is mounting from the internet protocol numbers administration and protocol standardisation bodies to consider at least a “phased implementation” of the transition.
A United Nations expert on freedom of expression this week has brought international attention to the need for individuals to be able to share completely encrypted, anonymous communications on the internet in order to preserve rights related to freedom of expression and opinion worldwide.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has initiated a programme of reaching out to stakeholders in developed countries with “roving seminars” on WIPO services and initiatives. The programme targets potential WIPO customers, promotes local IP services and offices, and promotes intellectual property protection.
At a hearing on data flows and data protection in trade agreements this week, several members of the European Parliament called for the clear exemption of current and future data protection regulation from ongoing trade negotiations.
A collaboration between the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) and leading information and telecommunications technology companies has entered a new phase in dealing with challenges in IT infrastructures. This new phase also marks the inclusion of public research organisations in the collaboration. Separately, the program director discussed the role of intellectual property rights at the lab.
In the landmark case of Delfi v. Estonia, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights today decided that news portals could be held liable for clearly unlawful content in third party postings.
In voting that took over an hour due to the more than 550 amendments proposed, the European Parliament Legal Affairs (JURI) Committee Tuesday adopted an own-initiative report by German MEP Julia Reda of the Greens/European Free Alliance intended to make sweeping changes to EU copyright law. The report is expected to feed into the European Commission's (EC's) copyright reform proposal expected later this year. JURI also backed draft rules on legal redress for theft and misuse of business trade secrets, but said they must in turn respect freedom of information and expression and safeguard whistle-blowers.
ICANN's Allen Grogan writes: Allow me to say this clearly and succinctly – ICANN is not a global regulator of Internet content, nor should the 2013 Registry Accreditation Agreement (RAA) be interpreted in such a way as to put us in that role. Our mission is to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet's systems of unique identifiers, and in particular, to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifiers. ICANN was never granted, nor was it ever intended that ICANN be granted, the authority to act as a regulator of Internet content.
The era of analogue television broadcasting is coming to an end in different parts of the world and is being replaced with digital terrestrial broadcasting. The transaction deadline day widely known as the ‘Digital Switchover Date’ is tomorrow, 17 June.
European Patent Office President Benoît Batistelli, in an exchange with the Legal Affairs Committee (Juri) of the European Parliament today (15 June), recommended against including harmonisation of patent policy in bilateral negotiations like the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). He also defended his office's actions on heated staff matters. But he did not address a breaking allegation of EPO surveillance of computers in its building.
Under the new Inventor Assistance Program established jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Economic Forum, inventors and small businesses with limited financial means coming from a developing country will be able to seek pro bono legal assistance of patent attorneys to obtain patent protection.
The United Nations is leading a mandated review of the 2003-2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) this year, culminating in a high-level meeting in December. This week, UN member states discussed the roadmap to December in a “stock-taking” exercise.