Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The chair of the World Intellectual Property Organization traditional knowledge and genetic resources committee has circulated a draft paper on common issues in the negotiations, in hopes of bringing parties closer together ahead of the next committee meeting in July.
A new report commissioned by the World Intellectual Property Organization shows a huge increase in patent filings related to renewable energy technologies relative averages. The patent landscape in this area indicates that innovation is taking place across a greater geographical scope, and is shifting towards the global East. The report, presented this week, opens up questions for policymakers, and for further research regarding drivers for these trends and other measures of innovation.
The Patent Cooperation Treaty is a cornerstone of the World Intellectual Property Organization and provides its main source of revenue. This week, a working group is gathered to explore proposed amendments to the treaty regulations, including fee reductions for developing countries, small businesses and non-profits.
ATHENS - In what the representative of a major consumer group called a “big step,” World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry on 6 June called for development of a seamless, global, legal, digital content marketplace that could offer the chance to bridge seemingly intractable copyright issues. Speaking at a conference in Athens hosted by the Greek EU Presidency on copyright and Europe's digital agenda, Gurry said the search for such a market should take the form of a dialogue that includes all stakeholders.
Just as the world of international intellectual property law and policy is ever-changing, so are the faces within it. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has a new deputy director in Silicon Valley veteran Michelle Lee, who has been acting as director. Many changes occurred at the US Trade Representative’s office, including the naming of a top tech industry lobbyist as deputy USTR, the return to Geneva of a key US figure at the WTO, and the defection of a top IP negotiator to the copyright industry.
This spring, Intellectual Property Watch has had the pleasure of welcoming three talented interns/researchers who have provided not only their expertise but their enthusiasm for all aspects of intellectual property and have made an excellent addition to the team.
The Open AIR project has gone global. The research project’s findings were presented in a recent side event at the World Intellectual Property Organization. The findings, published in two books, assess how people from different African countries and sectors consider and use intellectual property and present three possible scenarios about how people will innovate in the next two decades.
Findings of a World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) project show that innovation occurs in the informal sector, and generates employment and development. Panellists at a recent side event to the CDIP called on policymakers to be mindful of this sector and implement policy frameworks, in particular in developing countries.
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee on development closed last week with little to show after a week of unyielding opposing positions on every sensitive issue by several countries. Frustration was palpable as those issues were sent to the next session for further discussions, with the risk of renewed disagreement.
The World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property finished a weeklong meeting yesterday having not achieved the week’s goals and with harsh words from delegates calling into question the very functioning of the organisation. At the heart…