Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A new association is being launched this week in Brussels with the mission to promote the digital public domain. The move comes in the face of heavy lobbying for stronger copyright protection.
A lawyer with experience representing copyright holders such as authors and museums today was named the top copyright official in the United States government.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) signed an agreement with pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi on 30 May for a three-year research project on nine neglected tropical diseases that will come with intellectual property rights on research results for both sides, according to a press release from the international organisation in Switzerland.
Outgoing United States Commerce Secretary Gary Locke today gave near-complete approval of legislation to reform US patent law which is awaiting action in the House of Representatives.
The European Commission has issued a new draft customs regulation that it says addresses past concerns over wrongful seizures of generic drug shipments transiting through European ports. But the new regulation does not substantively change existing rules, it said, and civil society groups say it does not go far enough. The EU regulation is the subject of a World Trade Organization dispute settlement case.
Leaders of the Group of Eight industrialised countries today concluded their annual meeting, this year held in Deauville, France, with a communiqué bearing extensive discussion of the internet, intellectual property rights, and innovation - and a call for the World Intellectual Property Organization to step up work. In fact, it had a lot more to say about these issues than it did about the global economy or trade.
A new "final" text of the secretive but potent Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been published by the European Commission, according to the Foundation for Free Information Infrastructure (FFII).
Improving access to medicines in developing countries through local pharmaceutical production is at the centre of a project involving several institutional actors working on health and trade. Technology transfer is key to local production, but some prerequisites like a favourable policy environment and the ability of developing countries to use technology transfer are essential to encourage local production, according to panellists at a recent event.
It was a mixed message going out from the eG8 Forum - the first “Internet G8 meeting“ - that ended in Paris this week and passed its results to the heads of state of the Group of 8 most industrialised countries meeting now in Deauville, France.
The European Commission today published a strategy intended to boost the economy by analysing and applying polish to European Union rules on intellectual property rights, including increased attention to enforcement with a crackdown on small shipments from internet purchases.
Betty King, United States Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, has declared US support for a multilateral system of internet governance and an open internet.
China's violations of United States intellectual property rights costs the US tens of billions of dollars in economic activity and millions of jobs, according to a report released today from the US International Trade Commission.