Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will hold a seminar on the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications in Geneva next week.
The World Intellectual Property Organization annual General Assembly opened today with an unusual number of issues for delegates to solve, in particular those inherited from the committee in charge of approving the budget and the programmes of the organisation earlier in the month. Among pressing issues are WIPO external offices and decisions to be made on potential treaties such as on industrial designs, the protection of broadcasting organisations, and the protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
Indonesia has become the fifth country to initiate dispute settlement procedures at the World Trade Organization challenging an Australian public health law requiring tobacco products to be sold in plain packages as a way to discourage their use.
A coalition of civil society organisations yesterday officially launched a set of 13 principles on the application of human rights to communication surveillance during a side event at the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Several negotiators and other stakeholders participating in last June’s successful negotiation of an international treaty to ease access to reading material for blind and visually impaired people recently gathered in Washington, DC to look back on the remarkable and at-times bitter talks. Months later, not all agree on certain historical details, such as the US position, but all agree it was a significant accomplishment.
A handful of influential members of the United States Congress have sent a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, urging the Obama administration not to support the re-election of World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry.
Patent assertion entities in the United States have done well from software patents. These companies, which some call “patent trolls,” have garnered a clear majority of their revenues by licensing software patents and suing those who refuse to purchase licences. But these companies’ reliance on software patents may be coming to an end. In recent years, these companies are increasingly exploiting business method patents, and by doing so are targeting a much larger range of businesses, according to a recently released study.
More than 45 percent of all patent lawsuits in the United States in 2013 have been filed in two locations, with Delaware taking top spot over the Eastern District of Texas, according to a mid-year analysis.
A member of the UK Parliament active in promoting intellectual property rights has been named the UK prime minister's adviser on IP with a focus on enforcement.
At the end of a two-day conference in Switzerland, open knowledge experts emphasised the role of open data in strengthening science findings’ credibility, fostering medical research and enhancing sustainable development.
A new study released today by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in the company of members of the United States Congress found that internet search engines play a key role in user access to copyright infringing content online. The copyright industry study will be used to make the case that search engine companies, such as Google, need to take more responsibility in deterring use of unauthorised content without compensation to the rightsholders.
Rene Summer writes: The debate about copyright enforcement – whether rights holders’ unshakable conviction in the effectiveness of graduated responses is rational – has reached a watershed. This is not to say that there aren’t any ongoing, well-funded lobby campaigns around the world aimed at convincing policy makers to revert to the practice of some form of graduated response. Nor am I saying that there aren’t any other important considerations, such as the rights of citizens and intermediaries, to be weighted in when debating copyright enforcement, lessening the case for such practices. Rather, what I am saying is that arguing for graduated responses can no longer be done on efficiency grounds without at the same time being intellectually dishonest.