Original news and analysis on international IP policy
This week, World Intellectual Property Organization members are picking up discussions on a possible treaty to protect broadcasting organisations against signal piracy. Also on the agenda is exceptions and limitations to copyright for certain users. And proposals for two new topics for committee discussion are expected to be considered.
Since the late twentieth-century shift from the liberal university to the neoliberal university (the latter distinguished by the managerial class installed to leverage and extract value from academic research, plus polish the brand of the franchise), the publications’ ecosystem for academics, foremost in the Arts and Humanities, has been altered beyond recognition. Notably, it has exponentially expanded while at the same time suffering maximum constriction in the form of what legal scholars have called the “great copyright robbery” (Bernt Hugenholtz, 2000), writes Gavin Keeney.
The bipartisan heads of several United States congressional subcommittees have sent a letter urging the Obama administration to obtain the full and uncensored United Nations report on an investigation into possible misconduct by the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Meanwhile, procedural wrangling may be taking place within WIPO on who has the right to suppress or see the report.
A planned symposium to identify potential interrelations between the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), and the United Nations International Plant Treaty is raising concerns from civil society about farmers’ rights.
Designers wanting to protect their industrial designs at the international level will have to wait some more before the application procedures can be harmonised after hopes to breach differences on a draft treaty were dampened yesterday at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Corey Salsberg writes: Yesterday was World Intellectual Property Day. April 26 is the day we celebrate and call attention to the global intellectual property (IP) system. Why do we set aside a day for the entire world to stop and reflect on a subject that, for many, may seem more at home in board rooms, lecture halls, and legislatures, than in cafes, farms, and internet blogs?
A new publication offering an overview of the World Intellectual Property Organization governance system seeks to contribute to ongoing debates on the organisation's governance, according to its author.
Chidi Oguamanam writes: The global South is full of significant, diverse biological and genetic resources. It’s also home to most of the world’s indigenous communities. This is why developing countries are sensitive about protecting their genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
Indigenous communities enjoy a close relationship with nature. Genetic resources are central to producing their traditional knowledge. This drives innovations in agriculture, medicines and conservation. But global intellectual property frameworks – the legal mechanisms for securing knowledge ownership – still haven’t taken this reality into account.
This week, World Intellectual Property Organization delegates are being urged to come closer on remaining issues in a potential treaty facilitating the registration of industrial designs for international applicants. This is easier said than done, though, as a number of WIPO members request that the treaty allows countries to request applicants to disclose the source of their designs, and other countries find this would defy the harmonising aim of the treaty.
A potential treaty to facilitate international applications for industrial designs for creators is on the agenda of a meeting next week at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Also on the meeting agenda is the protection of country name registration and use as trademarks, and a proposed geographical indications filing system.
Last week’s World Intellectual Property Organization conference on the digital content business gathered speakers from different sectors of industry, from content producers to authors and performers. Rightsholders and others gave updates and tried to advance strategies for managing rights in a digital market.
“What we are going through is nothing short of a revolution,” announced a leading radio and television broadcast editor, speaking yesterday at a World Intellectual Property Organization event on digital content. But the revolution seems to be coming in “snack-sized” portions, said speakers.