Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Submissions to the United States annual review of how well it says the rest of the world is protecting US intellectual property are being assessed this week, with marked changes from previous years.
United States Senate Judiciary Committee bipartisan leaders today released details of much-anticipated compromise legislation aimed at reform of US patent laws. The new bill ostensibly makes significant steps toward resolving longstanding differences in legislative efforts to modernise US law for patent quality and efficiency, and make it more compatible with international laws.
A letter from the United States government answering a variety of sticky questions about the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been released online. The 28 January letter is addressed to Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat, Oregon) from US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
Far-reaching provisions on the patenting of medicine have been inserted into a controversial free trade agreement between the European Union and Colombia and Peru.
A treaty on copyright exceptions for visually impaired readers, open educational materials, use of the internet without surveillance, and early human rights movements around access to electricity were among issues debated at a recent academic conference on access to knowledge.
Brazilian President Lula has adopted a measure to enable the suspension of Brazil’s obligations to protect intellectual property rights from the United States, the next step after a World Trade Organization ruling of US non-compliance with WTO rules, according to an unofficial translation of the provisional Brazilian measure.
The United States’ largest industry association today laid out an aggressive legislative agenda on intellectual property, calling for a dramatic increase in enforcement activities including pumped up customs and border authority.
The chapter on copyright protection in the digital environment under negotiation in the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is still in an embryonic state, said negotiators coming back from the recent ACTA negotiations in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In its 2010 digital music report, the International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said that despite the availability of 400 legitimate online music offerings worldwide and significantly higher 2009 revenues, the music sector remains hard-hit by peer-to-peer and emerging forms of copyright infringement.
A report by a United States health department advisory group issued last week presents recommendations aimed at preventing patents on genes and licensing practices in the US from negatively impacting patient access to genetic tests that would allow them to establish their genetic dispositions to declare potential illnesses.
Biotechnology lies at the intersection of a wide spectrum of fields, such as agriculture, health and environment. Because biotechnology relates to life sciences, it is often the subject of ethical, sometimes intense political debates between stakeholders, in particular involving intellectual property rights. In 2010, as the first signs of global economic recovery are emerging, the debates are expected to increase.
The United States Department of Justice yesterday told the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that progress had been made on its concerns in the settlement allowing internet search giant Google to scan millions of books into a database. But the government lawyers continue to have doubts on copyright, class certification and antitrust issues, they said.