Original news and analysis on international IP policy
As the need to protect the global environment grows, questions are being raised about how intellectual property might help incentivise the development of the right kinds of technology and its transfer to places that need it most.
WASHINGTON, DC - The Patent Cooperation Treaty is not performing up to par and is not helping enough to alleviate the stress on the global patent system, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry said here Tuesday. The backlog theme was echoed by judges from across the globe who said their dockets are getting fuller with IP-related cases.
When it comes to intellectual property rights enforcement, developed country rights owners and their governments continue to puzzle over how to get the rest of the world’s economies to drink from the trough now that they have brought them there. One approach that may regain interest is combining the all-out war on piracy with efforts to build greater trust in the enforcement system.
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND – In an age when private sector interests are arguably returning to dominance in intellectual property policy debates, two key global policy bodies are being pushed to show their relevance.
Evidence-based policymaking is essential to combat climate change, and ensure the transfer of climate-change-related technology, said a members of a panel held at the World Intellectual Property Organization. But it can be hard to determine where to find that evidence.
Developing countries would do well to demand a place at the table as negotiations for an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement undermine the multilateral approach to intellectual property policy making, argues Michael Geist.
LONDON—Leaders of the world’s largest economies struck a closed-door deal late Tuesday to create an international court for intellectual property litigation in a move sources said they deemed a best effort to turn back global economic demise.
Five new studies on select patent-related topics and informal, open-ended consultations on global issues are the key elements of future work for a World Intellectual Property Organization committee that wrapped up its meeting late Friday.
Georg Greve of Free Software Foundation Europe makes the case that software fails a three-step test to determine patentability.
Addressing the challenge of climate change will require technological solutions and the dissemination of those solutions to as many users as possible. A panel at the World Intellectual Property Organization Tuesday asked how intellectual property law might help or hinder that transfer, and what role the organisation might play in creating the right policy.
Regulatory caution on technology standards and intellectual property rights is increasingly necessary, as technology - and the need for interoperability between platforms - dominates the market economy as well as global communications, said a panel on patents and standards Monday.
Questions on how to best to link patent law and development issues led the opening discussion at this week’s World Intellectual Property Organization meeting on patent law. A WIPO study on exceptions and limitations was discussed Monday and Tuesday, with talk turning towards whether a third party examination of the issue was needed.