Category Venues

Concern Arises Over Proposed Pan-African IP Organisation

By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A proposal to set up a Pan-African Intellectual Property Organisation (PAIPO) though still in its infancy already faces opposition and concern, including from those who fear that Africa is signing up to stricter IP protection…

Germany: Fight Escalates Over Copyright Fee For Computers

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The fight between German collecting rights societies and hardware companies is escalating. This week the CEO of the society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights, Harald Heker, heavily criticised the German Association…

IP, Content Delivery Key To Telecom-Broadcasting Convergence

By William New with Pravir Palayathan
Content delivery and telecommunications are becoming rapidly intertwined in a "converging" world, bringing new opportunities but also likely leading to a dogfight among the high number of networks platforms for content delivery currently available, according to experts.

"Not every horse can win the race at the same time, and there is a lesson there for 'convergence'," David Wood, head of new media at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), told Intellectual Property Watch. "Every day a new means of providing media to the public seems to come out of the woodwork, all convinced they will be popular, valuable, and make a lot of money. But it can't happen. There will be winners and losers."

The EBU hosted a 21-22 June "meeting of high-level experts" jointly with the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU). "Our hope in organising the conference jointly with the EBU and ITU was to bring this into focus; and, if we accept that not everything can be successful, to see through to which would be more likely to succeed," said Wood.