Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Indigenous people and governments like the United States' may be able to help each other, especially when it comes to protecting traditional knowledge while also using it combat global crises like climate change, says Terry Williams of the Tulalip Tribes. But additional protection for traditional knowledge is needed.
TERUEL, SPAIN - Geographical indications (GIs) are in the interest of both producers and consumers as they provide a tool for sustainable economic growth and offer a guarantee of quality, concluded a high-level meeting of GI proponents last week. However, with shortcomings in the international framework and a lack of consensus on GIs, countries have been trying to find legal ways to address the issue.
An intergovernmental committee considering ways to protect kinds of knowledge that predate - and may not fit into - the current intellectual property system picked up this week after a chaotic round of negotiations failed to make any progress at the last meeting. Meanwhile, some indigenous groups, in whose traditions rest much of this knowledge, continue a push for stronger representation at the committee.
A well-liked and influential IP policymaker in Geneva will head Chile’s national IP office, a US lawyer responsible for perhaps the world’s biggest industry patent portfolio will head the US IP office, and a fixture in the Geneva international trade negotiating and lobbying community is heading home to Canada.
After months of private consultations, it was no surprise that the World Intellectual Property Organization Coordination Committee – the 83-member executive body – easily approved the director general’s new cabinet this week, albeit with a few notes for the future. And a previously prepared plan for financial disclosure by upper staff also sailed through. But the bulk of discussions over the intense two-day meeting were on details of a proposal by the director general to encourage a reduction in staff in the face of the global economic crisis, which members approved after long consideration and some modifications.
The member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s executive body on Monday approved a set of seven most senior officials at the organisation to join the director general late this year. Monday's Coordination Committee meeting also will address new policies on financial disclosure and conflicts of interest among top WIPO officials, and voluntary staff departures in the face of smaller budgets.
WASHINGTON, DC - Copyright holders on Wednesday acknowledged they have done a poor job of countering the "anti-copyright" lobby and demonstrating the creative community's value to the world.
Now even trademark owners and large businesses do not really agree on the planned extension of the internet domain name system to include hundreds of new top-level domains (TLDs) like .com.
لجنة المنظمة العالمية للملكية الفكرية المعنية بحق المؤلف توصلت في مايو/أيار إلى اتفاق بشأن تناول الاستثناءات في حق المؤلف للأشخاص المعوقين بصريا وغيرهم من أجل تحسين نفاذهم إلى مواد القراءة.
En mai dernier, le comité du droit d’auteur de l’Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI) s’est accordé sur la manière d’aborder la proposition de traité sur les exceptions au droit d’auteur en faveur des déficients visuels et sur d’autres dispositions permettant un meilleur accès aux ouvrages de lecture.
En mayo, el Comité de derechos de autor de la Organización Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual llegó a un acuerdo sobre un plan para examinar una propuesta de tratado sobre excepciones a los derechos de autor que permitan a los discapacitados visuales y a otras personas tener un mejor acceso a material de lectura.
A well-known European economist has been named the first-ever Chief Economist at the World Intellectual Property Organization, according to sources.