Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen After much discussion and hard-won willingness to shift positions on what a chair referred to as a “difficult resolution,” member states concluded the 2007 World Health Assembly on 23 May with the adoption of an…
By Drew Clark for Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON, DC – Practically no one participating in a recent government forum here liked the proposed broadcaster protection treaty under negotiation at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. Computer companies didn’t…
By William New Citing concerns over accountability and leadership at the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Switzerland are pushing for answers to allegations that WIPO Director General Kamil Idris purposely misrepresented his age on…
Wolfgang Starein is the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) official with primary responsibility for enforcement of intellectual property rights. In a series of recent interviews with Intellectual Property Watch, Starein talked about WIPO’s enforcement agenda for the coming year, a…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch International organisations should step in to prevent the “tasting,” “kiting” and “spying” related to Internet domain names, say representatives from the US telecommunications and trademark industries. These new activities are dramatically altering online…
By William New
Switzerland is known for its neutrality in many international forums, but when it comes to intellectual property rights, it generally has an opinion in favour, unsurprising given its high number of rights holders. Last week at the World Intellectual Property Organization, the government showed how it can make a move to favour IP rights in an international forum while retaining that special art of Swiss diplomacy.
The Working Group on Reform of the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) held its ninth session from 23 to 26 April. The PCT, which allows recognition of a patent filed in one nation to be recognised in all PCT members, is an important contributor to WIPO’s finances through fees it charges.
At the meeting, Switzerland again prepared to put forward a proposal to amend the PCT regulations to "explicitly enable the national patent legislation" to require the declaration of the source of genetic resources and traditional knowledge in patent applications. This would leave it up to the national level to decide whether to make disclosure part of national law. It would allow that disclosure could take place at the national level or later during the international phase, said the proposal, PCT/R/WG/9/5.
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen NEW YORK – Two “old” intellectual property policy issues are continuing to generate new debate among legal and policy experts, namely the broadcasting treaty under negotiation at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen NEW YORK – Speakers at an intellectual property conference here disagreed on the future of the IP system and what role the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will play during the next 10 years. But…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The use of an online, searchable patent-information system run by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has tripled in the past 12 months, according to WIPO. But a recent colloquium on the topic showed that…
By Stephen Flug for Intellectual Property Watch The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) said there was a 25 percent increase in “cybersquatting” complaints – the registering and use of domain names to profit from another party’s trademark – last year…