Original news and analysis on international IP policy
David Cronin para Intellectual Property Watch A partir del año que viene debería ser mas fácil obtener una patente multinacional europea con la ratificación de un acuerdo que reduce los requisitos de traducción para la protección de una invención. Según…
By Alicia Martin-Santos and Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
European Union countries are imposing copyright levies on a whole new range of digital media, including digital music players, USB flash sticks, hard drives and, potentially, mobile phones and wireless connections, as efforts to harmonise Europe's heterogeneous copyright landscape continue to languish.
Copyright levies are imposed on blank material (such as blank CDs, DVDs or paper) or digital recording media (used to store digital content) in order to compensate authors for end-users' private copying. They first appeared in the 1960s and were charged on paper, photocopying equipment and tapes. New recording media, such as mp3 players (like iPods) or even mobile phones are being examined for potential levying.
Par David Cronin pour Intellectual Property Watch BRUXELLES – L’inquiétude grandit en Europe et dans les pays en développement concernant la possibilité qu’un certain nombre d’accords de libre échange qui devraient être signés dans le courant de l’année contienne des…
Por David Cronin para Intellectual Property Watch BRUSELAS – Aumenta la preocupación tanto en Europa como en los países en desarrollo sobre si diversos acuerdos de libre comercio, cuya firma está programada para finales del presente año, contendrán normas demasiado…
By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch BRUSSELS – Concern is growing in both Europe and developing countries about whether a series of free trade agreements slated for signature later this year will contain overly stringent rules on intellectual property.…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch
A European Commission ruling and record fine was upheld Monday against US software giant Microsoft for breaching European antitrust laws in a judgment that will have repercussions for intellectual property owners far beyond the case itself, experts said.
The European Court of First Instance upheld the �497 million fine and the 2004 ruling by the Commission that Microsoft had, among other things, refused access to rivals to IP-protected information needed for developing interoperable products.
By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch A dispute has erupted between two of the European Union’s most powerful institutions over Thailand’s decision to circumvent pharmaceutical patents in order to boost its supply of cheap medicines. Peter Mandelson, who holds…
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…
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.
Par Monika Ermert pour Intellectual Property Watch Le Parlement européen s’est prononcé contre la criminalisation des importations parallèles de marchandises dans le cadre de la proposition de directive de l’Union européenne relative aux mesures pénales visant à assurer le respect…
By Bruce Gain for Intellectual Property Watch
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and other associations representing record labels are facing significant challenges in their efforts to enforce European Union copyright laws against unauthorised downloads of music files over peer-to-peer networks.
It remains to be seen whether the EU Copyright Directive and other EU mandates, as well as thousands of lawsuits filed against downloaders, will be enough to contain file sharing in the EU.
Different degrees of enforcement and the reluctance of some criminal courts to convict so-called "music pirates" in the different EU states can make it difficult for recording industry groups to successfully seek court remedies against individuals who illegally download copyrighted files.
Por Monika Ermert para Intellectual Property Watch El Parlamento Europeo ha votado en contra de la penalización de la importación paralela de artículos en la directiva propuesta en la Unión Europea sobre medidas penales destinadas a garantizar la observancia de…