Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals clearly likes patents. Over the years, the court has issued a long string of rulings that greatly strengthened the rights of patent owners. But several weeks ago, in Akamai Technologies v. Limelight Networks, the court reluctantly created a major loophole in patent protection.
While a full range of stakeholders would be affected by the outcome of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement under secret negotiation by the United States and a dozen trading partners, corporate representatives have had a special seat at the negotiating table, as shown by hundreds of pages of confidential emails from the US Trade Representative’s office obtained by Intellectual Property Watch. The emails give a rare and fascinating perspective on how policy is developed in the trade office.
MUNICH -- Just days before leaders of the Group of 7 (G7) industrialised countries gather in the well-guarded Bavarian Castle Elmau, a broad coalition of organisations invited free trade critics to an International Summit for Alternatives in Munich. Speaking there, Jean Ziegler, well-known former UN rapporteur for the right to food, shrugged off the possible effects of the G7 Summit.
Patent activity is currently at an all-time high, with statistics showing large growth across industry sectors in the volume of patents being filed. However, the production of scientific literature is declining, according to a new report from Thomson Reuters.
Intellectual property rights are among the issues given detailed analysis in the latest trade policy review of India by the World Trade Organization under review this week. Turns out, India has been quite busy on IP rights over the past few years.
This year’s United Nations review of implementation of the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is picking up pace. Meanwhile, intensive efforts continue to meet a September target for the handover from the United States of key underlying functions of the internet.
Mike Palmedo writes: This post presents preliminary data showing that firms in industries sensitive to copyright can succeed in countries other than the US when copyright limitations include fair use. It is an early product of an interdisciplinary project at American University, in which legal researchers are working with economics professor Walter Park to study how country’s copyright exceptions effect economic outcomes. The project has been undertaken as part of American University’s larger role coordinating the Global Network on Copyright User Rights. The research supports and expands on other recent research attempting to measure the value of fair use abroad.
European Commission negotiators should back away from a controversial provision in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal that would allow companies to sue governments in arbitration courts over claimed unequal treatment, the European Parliament International Trade Committee (INTA) said on 28 May. MEPs called instead for publicly appointed, independent judges, public hearings and an appellate mechanism that respects the jurisdiction of EU and national courts, the committee said.
Although most people in the world live within reach of a mobile internet signal, a considerable amount of mobile users in developing countries are not using the opportunity to go online. One of the factors, according to a panel today, is the lack of locally relevant content.
The high prices of medicine, which affects access to affordable medicine, was a theme of the annual World Health Assembly over the past week. In one side event, a panel discussed compulsory licensing as a vehicle to be used in combatting the high prices of medicine, not only in developing countries, but in Europe.
The European Council of member states yesterday adopted a decision asking the European Commission to draft legislation on Europe’s ratification of the Marrakesh Treaty on increasing access to publications for blind and visually impaired readers.
Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences has been noted first for developing a treatment for hepatitis C, which afflicts tens of millions around the world, and then for pricing it at jaw-dropping prices ($1000 per pill) in the United States and elsewhere. Now a group of health advocates has challenged Gilead's patent applications in five emerging economies.