Original news and analysis on international IP policy
World Intellectual Property Organization member states are expected to take a set of decisions this week on the future budget of the organisation, and have to bridge a number of differences on programmes before the General Assembly taking place later this month.
The World Intellectual Property Organization later this month will hold a forum on innovation featuring four "world-renowned pioneers from the fields of medicine, architecture and industrial design," as a way to bring common insights to intellectual property policymakers and stakeholders working to achieve a "balanced, inclusive" IP system.
World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry last week issued a call for a redefinition of the functions of the IP system in the context of a fast-changing and globalised world.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has scheduled a workshop in December to teach indigenous peoples the value of the intellectual property system in protecting their knowledge and resources.
The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) has released a user guide to the recently adopted “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.” LCA is an organisation representing three major North American library associations.
World Intellectual Property Organization member states in July concluded the biennium work of the committee tasked with finding agreement on international legal tools to prevent misappropriation and misuse of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore. Indigenous peoples and local communities are holders of a substantial part of this knowledge and are demanding that it be protected against misappropriation but also against its use without their consent. Intellectual Property Watch recently conducted two interviews on the issue with different indigenous groups.
Among hundreds of comments in the context of an ongoing Australian inquiry on copyright exceptions in the digital economy, organisations representing the interests of creative industries cast doubt on the inclusion of a fair use exception in Australian copyright law.
After three days of stocktaking, members of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on genetic resources and traditional knowledge were unable to agree on a recommendation on the future work of the committee to the September WIPO General Assembly. Instead, a report will be transmitted to the Assembly with the expectation that this high level committee will reach agreement.
World Intellectual Property Organization committee members have laid out options for establishing an instrument or instruments to protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore. Now they are working to choose among them.
Intellectual property and product branding can be valuable tools for development, and communities and countries are taking note, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization, which held a presentation on the issue yesterday.
World Intellectual Property Organization committee members will decide by tomorrow whether to recommend WIPO move to final high-level negotiations on the protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.
A new report from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) proposes solutions to advancing the global debate on the protection of traditional knowledge shared among different indigenous communities.