Category WIPO

Country Names As IP, Geographical Indications, Industrial Designs At WIPO Next Week

What can you do if you are a country and a private company has registered your name as a trademark, preventing even your own companies from using your name? The issue is expected to be discussed at next week’s World Intellectual Property Organization's committee on trademarks. The meeting also includes a special session illustrating practices of national and regional protection of geographical indications. However, the question remains whether or not delegates will discuss a draft treaty text on industrial designs, after that conversation was pushed back in the fall.

EU Parliament: No Commercial Availability Or Compensation In Marrakesh Implementation

The European Parliament announced today that its Legal Affairs Committee approved new draft legislation to bring European Union law into line with an international treaty providing copyright exceptions for special format books for visually impaired people. Limitations to the scope of the treaty, such as commercial availability or compensation, were disregarded by Parliament members.

WHO Advisory Group Report On Fair Pricing Forum Released

The report from a meeting of a World Health Organization informal advisory group on challenges of medicines pricing and organising a Fair Pricing Forum this spring has been made public. The report shows the analysis and assertions of the diverse group, as well as questions and plans to take forward.

Marrakesh Treaty For Blind Readers Jeopardised By EU Publishing Industry Lobbying, Group Says

The treaty adopted almost four years ago in Marrakesh allowing for exceptions to copyright for the benefit of visually impaired people was hailed as a victory for human rights over private rights. However, as the European Union is preparing to ratify the treaty, according to a civil society group report, intense lobbying by the publishing industry is influencing the debate and might diminish the hard-gained ground in the treaty on copyright exceptions. The World Blind Union, meanwhile, said it finds the report “revealing and shocking”.

UN Human Rights Council To Host Expert Panel On Medicines Access This Week

The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva this week will host a panel discussion among a notable range of experts on access to medicines and the controversial UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel report issued last September. The panel is expected to lead to a report sent on to the Human Rights Council for possible action next autumn.

WIPO Committee On Protection Of Folklore: New Inspiration From Developing Countries

There seems to be something in the air at the World Intellectual Property Organization committee working to find solutions to protect indigenous traditional cultural expressions (folklore) from misappropriation. After 16 years of snail’s pace and mostly unfruitful efforts, the landscape appears to be moving, as developing countries seek a common proactive position, with new treaty language, while the European Union and the United States seem to be increasingly lonely, according to sources.

Text Protecting Indigenous Cultural Expressions Streamlined At WIPO, But Divergence Persists

Renewed discussions on the protection of traditional cultural expressions at the World Intellectual Property Organization have produced a new draft text that provides a clearer view of the different ways in which countries see a that treaty could help against misappropriation of indigenous cultural heritage. Divergences remain on core questions such as what and who should benefit from the protection of an international treaty, in which terms, and to what extent.

Indigenous Peoples At WIPO Call For Respect Of Their Sovereign Rights, Prevention Of Cultural Genocide

A panel of indigenous peoples speaking at the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization on a potential treaty protecting their folklore from misappropriation asked that indigenous culture be recognised as unique, and not unduly considered as belonging to the whole of mankind. The keynote speaker chastised the United States position in the committee, criticised a US recent document equating the cultural significance of Santa Claus, pizza and sand paintings, and called for the respect of indigenous peoples' sovereign rights over their cultural expressions.