Category Europe

G8: Amid Talks Of Climate, Economy, Food And Health Lies IP & Innovation

Leaders of the seven biggest economies and Russia (G8) at their annual summit this week in L'Aquila, Italy have made very cautious commitments with regard to the top issue, climate change, but views on intellectual property rights enforcement began to become clear on the second day. The summit so far has addressed issues related to trade, development, terrorism, and also innovation and IP.

Statements in the leaders' Wednesday declaration with regard to intellectual property called for a firm push for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which is unchanged from the past. But the G8 IP Expert Group (IPEG) on Thursday published the results of its discussion in which they went into more detail on some issues.

WCO Kills “SECURE” Group, But Creates Health Enforcement Mandate

The World Customs Organization at its annual assembly in late June replaced a controversial group on counterfeiting and piracy with a softer dialogue mechanism that may defuse earlier concerns of potential overreaching on intellectual property infringement by customs officials. But it added a new mandate on health to a separate committee on enforcement that could raise new concerns.

European Patent System, Court Top Priority Under Swedish EU Presidency

COPENHAGEN - A top priority for Sweden as it takes over the EU presidency on 1 July is to boost negotiations on a Community patent system and a European Patent Court, the government says. Its work programme also emphasises the need for "effective protection of intellectual property rights" and lists a conference on enforcement. Officials, however, deny that enforcement is among the presidency's main IP focus. And the Pirate Party is concerned.

Global Legislative Reform Could Unlock Benefits Of GIs, Advocates Say

TERUEL, SPAIN - Geographical indications (GIs) are in the interest of both producers and consumers as they provide a tool for sustainable economic growth and offer a guarantee of quality, concluded a high-level meeting of GI proponents last week. However, with shortcomings in the international framework and a lack of consensus on GIs, countries have been trying to find legal ways to address the issue.

Germany Builds Infrastructure To Block The Internet

The German Parliament on Thursday evening passed legislation that obliges internet service providers (ISPs) to filter websites allegedly containing child abuse material, by a vote of 389 to 146. The vote followed fierce debate about the secret filtering list to be put together by the German Federal Police and transmitted to ISPs once a day with only occasional checks by a five-member monitoring body. Opposition parties joined civil rights organisations in warning that Germany is introducing blocking architecture that was extensible and could be used to “censor“ other content without due process.

Malgré les obstacles, les pressions de la France au niveau national visant à sanctionner le piratage sur Internet font des émules

WASHINGTON – Le 9 juin, au cours d’une conférence, la ministre française de la Culture et de la Communication, Christine Albanel, a défini la loi Création et Internet comme étant « à la fois ambitieuse et réaliste ». Selon elle, ceux qui pensent qu’Internet est une zone de non-droit « se trompent d’époque ». À l’occasion de cette conférence, des hypothèses ont également été avancées quant à la législation américaine entourant la réforme des brevets, les droits d’interprétation et d’exécution, et d’autres questions.

HADOPI Copyright Law To Get New Set Of Teeth With Additional Law

The Sarkozy government will implement a law aimed at promoting legal online downloading in the coming months despite being prevented from cutting off the internet access of alleged three-time offenders, according to official sources.
Meanwhile, the government has already begun preparing a new law that would restore penalties decided by a judge rather than by the newly created HADOPI commission.