Category WIPO

Caribbean IP: Ensure Unending Local Protection Of Traditional Knowledge

In the Caribbean, issues of traditional knowledge in intellectual property are hardly considered to be of special significance to the majority of policymakers and, except for a few pockets of interest groups such as a group of Rastafarians in Jamaica, the average citizen is uninformed on the subject. The protection of the cultural heritage of the region through a normative system of law is exceedingly necessary for the survival of our unique brand of cultural expression, writes Abiola Inniss.

Studies Inform WIPO Enforcement Meeting As Development Issues Debated

Development Agenda coordination again topped the agenda this week at the latest World Intellectual Property Organization meeting - this time, in the Advisory Committee on Enforcement. Also causing discussion was how to proceed with the group's work programme, as seven governments made different suggestions for future topics.

Key IP-Related Personnel Changes In UN, National Agencies

The end of the year is bringing many changes in intellectual property-related policy offices in Geneva and the capitals. Some of these changes include top offices at the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Health Organization, South African government, United States government, and a global internet body. Intellectual Property Watch Subscribers can read the details here.

WIPO Development Agenda Coordination Seizes Up; Projects Approved

As the first flurries of snow gave Geneva a foretaste of winter, delegates yesterday ended a week of negotiations in the World Intellectual Property Organization committee overseeing implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda. They agreed on some projects and postponed discussions on others until the next session, but remained frozen without agreement on details of the coordination mechanism for Agenda implementation. Numerous corridor discussions and informal meetings did not help the process.

Friction Arises Over WIPO Development Agenda Coordination

Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week are working through details of projects related to boosting the UN agency’s development orientation. But simultaneous closed, informal meetings on a mechanism for coordinating WIPO Development Agenda activities have proven more difficult, as developed countries try to contain the spread of the development committee’s influence – and work through their own differences, according to sources.

WIPO Works On Its Development Agenda Implementation This Week

Members of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization this week are in discussions on how to ensure that WIPO activities are development-oriented. A particular focus will be the implementation of a Development Agenda coordination mechanism approved at the last session in May. Also new on the table this week is an agenda item on development-related issues and a proposal for a new project on cooperation between developing countries.

Global Copyright Licensing Doubts And What To Do About Them

What do the fearsome leader of France’s three-strikes agency, a top Microsoft counsel, Google’s copyright counsel, a free software activist, Egyptian and British librarians, a South American development-oriented academic, and a European music authors’ representative have in common? While one might be tempted to say, ‘very little’, a recent gathering showed one thing - they represent the very wide range of current views on the future of copyright licensing.