Original news and analysis on international IP policy
This week, some World Intellectual Property Organization member states are presenting their national and regional practices and strategies to prevent purchases of counterfeit or pirated goods with the aim to promote the underreported hard work of states in this area.
A growing number of countries are signing the new World Intellectual Property Organization treaty on copyright exceptions aimed at boosting access to special format books for visually impaired persons. Parallel to the treaty and pre-dating it, a WIPO-led initiative of interested stakeholders is continuing its efforts to also boost access to such works, including through licence agreements.
World Intellectual Property Organization members this week are meeting to discuss efforts to better protect intellectual property rights worldwide, including some new proposals for discussion and an exhibition on national programmes.
The intersection of biotechnology and intellectual property continues to be a hot topic across the globe. From the patenting of certain plant varieties to human genes, to biodiversity and food security, to genetic resources, countries from developing to developed are attempting to navigate often blurred lines in terms of what can and cannot be patented, what should - and shouldn’t - be patented, and protecting innovators from farmers to plant breeders to drug manufacturers.
From infojustice.org: [Australian Digital Alliance] It has been a big week for Australian Copyright. On Thursday the Attorney-General, the Hon George Brandis QC, tabled the long-anticipated final report from the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) Copyright and the Digital Economy inquiry. This inquiry was charged with determining if copyright exceptions and limitations were working in the digital age. The conclusion was that reform was needed.
A recent paper issued by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) compares existing exhaustion policies and makes recommendations for countries in the process of adopting their own regimes in this area. These have the potential to contribute to economic and social development, innovation and the protection of user rights globally, it said.
Member states of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization, the global body for international IP policy issues, will vote on 6 March for the next WIPO director general for six years. Intellectual Property Watch asked the candidates four key questions. Here are their responses.
Despite spending a week in mostly closed, informal discussions, the World Intellectual Property Organization committee working on the protection of genetic resources, got little closer to breaching the opposing viewpoints. Members managed to produce a draft text - with signs of steps toward a middle ground - that they say can serve as a basis for further discussion on the development of an international instrument preventing wrongful patents.
A side event hosted by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) this week called on negotiators at the World Intellectual Property Organization to include innovation by small-scale farmers and asked for complementarity of several international instruments dealing with this issue.
A new website of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will allow tracking of the use of genetic resources in order to ensure access and benefit-sharing of those resources.
While World Intellectual Property Organization members seek ways to address the issue of biopiracy, speakers at a side event to this week’s negotiations said the phenomenon is widespread. According to them, very few patent applicants source the origin of the…
A study of patent activity in the United Kingdom shows widespread global distribution of genetic resources used by UK innovators. The implications of international rules on access and benefit sharing will need to be communicated to these groups, who will among other things have to start assessing their supply chains to ensure full compliance throughout, according to the study author.