Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Former World Intellectual Property Organization Deputy Director General Geoffrey Onyeama has been named the new minister of foreign affairs of Nigeria. And according to Nigerian press reports, he plans to use IP and innovation to help Nigeria's economy, and plans to support the new government's high-profile efforts against corruption.
A cybersquatter based in Indonesia who created a website falsely using the Electronic Frontier Foundation name but offering malware did so in bad faith and with malicious intent, a World Intellectual Property Organization panellist has found.
The draft text of a treaty to help international designers apply for protection has been on the table at the World Intellectual Property Organization for some time, and has been under discussion again this week. Two questions have prevented its completion. One is whether technical assistance for developing countries should be part of the text, and the other is how to accommodate a request for a provision allowing countries to ask for disclosure of the origin of the design, to prevent misappropriation.
Delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and IP (CDIP) ended a weeklong session agreeing on a programme of work for the next session including two future projects to be reconsidered. But this belies the degree of stasis and frustration in the committee.
Consensus emerged among a panel of top economists last week at the World Intellectual Property Organization that as economies become increasingly intangible they are more susceptible to repercussions on growth caused by a financial crisis. Yet the shift towards a knowledge economy brings with it promise of increased economic growth in the long term, they said.
The controversial issue of geographical indications returns to the World Intellectual Property Organization stage this week, as the WIPO trademark committee is expected to consider a new document put forward by the United States, and a proposal from France. The meeting comes just weeks after GIs dominated the annual WIPO General Assembly, nearly leading to suspension of the UN agency’s budget before an all-night session ended in agreement there.
Also on the agenda next week is a potential treaty on industrial designs that could be on its way to a final treaty negotiation (diplomatic conference) in 2017.
From the Internet Governance Forum: Remixing WIPO - soon it could be possible that the World Intellectual Property Organization is moving to Creative Commons licences. But could the CC-licenced WIPO material be blocked by new provisions in the prospective broadcasting treaty?
Nanotechnologies, 3D printing and robotics are areas of potential breakthrough technologies, and mostly happening in the most developed countries, with China catching up, a World Intellectual Property Organization report has found. Knowledge-sharing is an important factor of innovation, facilitated by intellectual property, according to the report. However, the world may have reached its innovation peak and may have to content with low economic growth.
Intense negotiations are going on this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization over an external review of how the World Intellectual Property Organization delivers technical assistance on intellectual property to developing and least-developed countries. At stake is how to implement some of the recommendations suggested in the four-year old report.
A recent workshop on patentability criteria illustrated how countries are using the policy space provided by international trade rules to calibrate their patent law. In particular, incremental innovation remains a trying issue for national legislators, speakers said.