Original news and analysis on international IP policy
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.
The much-advertised World Intellectual Property Organization conference on the digital content market kicked off with a visionary speaker calling for the broadening of intellectual property rights income as a way forward for a sustainable economic ecosystem and reducing inequalities. The WIPO director general meanwhile said digital technology has brought new possibilities and reduced prices but also carries its load of regulatory challenges.
Countries develop intellectual property systems in different ways, and a recent conference at the World Intellectual Property Organization delved into some thoughts about, and examples of, how this is done.