Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen With the United Nations negotiations on harmonising international patent law in deadlock, a group of developed countries has agreed on a basis for its internal discussion, according to a draft meeting report. The group’s plan…
By William New ATHENS – The World Summit on the Information Society told the world to build “dynamic” coalitions to address problems related to the Internet, and this week, the world responded. At the four-day Internet Governance Forum here ending…
The candidates for next week's election to succeed UN International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi are not following his platform of drawing international pressure to change the US-centric Internet domain name system.
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen At a recent World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting, Switzerland questioned an earlier proposal by Norway to link WTO intellectual property rules with the protection of biodiversity. But Peru, as one of the demanders of such…
By William New ATHENS – Whether intellectual property rights protection is inhibiting the free flow of information was hotly debated at the Internet Governance Forum on 31 October. “Just about every aspect of the free flow of information is now…
By William New ATHENS – Participants in this week’s Internet Governance Forum here saw strong support for ensuring public access to knowledge as tough questions were put to technology corporations for their apparent support of restrictive government practices. But representatives…
By William New ATHENS – As hundreds of Internet practitioners and visionaries gathered here for a forum on governance of the Internet, two long-time stakeholders have issued an updated proposal aimed at defusing the biggest policy tensions by moving governance…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen There may be a market advantage for small and medium-sized pharmaceutical enterprises (SMEs) in focusing on diseases prevalent in developing countries that are neglected by larger companies, according to a recent seminar. The seminar was…
By William New ATHENS – The four-day Internet Governance Forum opened on 30 October by addressing many topics, among them the availability of content online. Content on the Internet will be addressed in a variety of ways this week, including…
Par Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen À Washington, un haut fonctionnaire américain de la santé publique invite instamment le président de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé à retirer une publication commanditée par l’OMS qui se montre critique envers la politique commerciale…
[Editor’s Note: This story was modified shortly after publication to reflect the WHO reply on meeting participation.] By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The World Health Organization (WHO) has set the dates for online consultations on the working group on public…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A meeting of the World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property rights this week erupted in disagreement over how to address enforcement of those rights in the committee. The debate in the 25-26 October…