Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee on the protection of indigenous knowledge, expressions and genetic resources failed to reach consensus on future work Friday, putting the future of the committee in the hands of the WIPO General Assemblies in September.
World Intellectual Property Organization members this week are intensively working toward agreement on a proposal to start negotiations for a tool to better protect traditional knowledge, genetic resources, and traditional cultural expressions, after nearly a decade of talking about the subject.
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.