Category North America

Internet Governance 2010: Future Of The IGF, Competition Among Institutions

The future design of the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the role of the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in internet governance and the ability of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to resolve issues from new generic top-level domains to further internationalisation - these are the top policy issues in internet governance in 2010 and they are all linked to the question about how many governments and how much “multi-stakeholderism“ effective internet governance needs.

Bilski Decision Likely To Narrow Patentable Subject Matter In US, Panel Says

For years, the United States has taken an expansive position on the types of inventions that are patentable. Software, medical tests, and business methods - for example - have all been granted patents. But that is likely to change when the US Supreme Court hands down its decision in Bilski v. Kappos, according to most members of a 19 November panel, Patentable Subject Matter After the Bilski Oral Argument, hosted by American University Law School and the Federal Circuit Bar Association.

ICANN Gives Green Light To .中国, .рф, .إمارات , But No Timeline For New Top-Level Domains

The board of directors of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) this week opened up the root zone for non-Latin country-code top level domains (internationalised or IDN ccTLDs). Starting 16 November, ICANN will accept applications for ccTLDs in Chinese, Cyrillic, Japanese, Korean or Arabic characters. In addition to the Chinese ccTLD .cn there will be .中国, in addition to the Russian .ru there will be .рф, and in addition to the United Arab Emirates' .ae, .إمارات will be possible. ICANN leadership qualified the step as historic, but also said it was only a first step.