Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Negotiators at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week are struggling to make headway on a draft text of an international instrument for the protection of traditional cultural expressions, or folklore. And accusations began to fly that certain developed countries are not engaging in good faith to move negotiations along.
Just as the world of international intellectual property law and policy is ever-changing, so are the faces within it. Below you will find an updated list of the latest people news and IP moves across international organisations, national and regional governments, nonprofit organisations, and the private sector, from the first half of this year.
The Internal Audit and Oversight Division (IAOD) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is conducting an evaluation of the service provided by the WIPO secretariat in support of the committee on traditional knowledge and related issues.
Small-scale farmers and their role in food security are a “missing element” in the draft articles being reviewed at this week’s negotiations at WIPO, according to a briefing paper issued by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO).
The process for the 2014 election of the director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization is now available. And according to sources, the incumbent may have some competition for the post.
In an obvious effort to push back against claims about a continued lack of transparency in free trade agreement negotiations, the European Commission has published a number of initial documents on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the United States.
Church leaders, gun ownership advocates and other rights activists came together today to file a lawsuit against the US National Security Agency (NSA), declaring its surveillance programme unconstitutional. The broad coalition of plantiffs is represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
US online retailer Amazon's quest for their own top level domain, .amazon, might be doomed after the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today agreed it should be rejected.
شبكة , the Arabic word for “web” or “network”, the Russian words for “online” and “network” and and the Chinese word for “game” is one of the first new top-level domains ready to go live after the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) signed four contracts during its opening session in Durban, South Africa (14-18 July). Despite what might be seen as emblematic of a “greater” ICANN, discussions in Durban this week continue on discrepancies between local law and ICANN contracts. They also continue on the very functioning of the private multi-stakeholder model for self-regulating the name space itself.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week are attempting to advance 13-year-old negotiations on the protection of traditional cultural expressions (folklore) to a point where they can enter final high-level treaty negotiations. But some developed countries are putting up resistance to any instrument that would be legally binding, saying that it is “premature,” which could change the outcome of the negotiations.
Several United States-based advertising networks today announced a set of best practices to address online infringement by reducing ad revenue to websites engaged in piracy and counterfeiting.
In one of the first decisions on an objection filed at the World Intellectual Property Organization against a new top level domain (TLD) application, the complainant, Express, LLC lost to Sea Sunset, a subsidiary of Donuts. Express is a US fashion dealer, and Donuts is one of the so-called “portfolio TLD applicants” that has applied for nearly 300 new TLDs.