Original news and analysis on international IP policy
During a signing ceremony held today at the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Union, France, Greece and India signed the treaty adopted last June to provide a wider access to copyrighted books in special format for visually impaired people.
The first half of this week’s World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee meeting was devoted to a potential treaty to protect broadcasters’ rights. Delegations struggled to find common ground on core questions such as the scope of the protection to be granted and specific rights. This was partly attributed to the highly technical nature of the subject and informal consultations were said to have achieved more clarity on issues.
NEW YORK – The annual Fordham Law School IP Law and Policy Conference held last week offered an intensive two days of in-depth legal issues in intellectual property, with a mix of perspectives from representatives of intergovernmental organisations, governments, courts, industry, and a smattering of public interest advocates.
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates next week are expected to pore over a draft treaty text offering protection to broadcasters. Some issues, such as what the protection should cover, remain in the way of consensual language, and a new proposal has been put forward by the United Kingdom. Also on the agenda of the copyright committee is exceptions and limitations for libraries and archives, for which the nature of the instrument(s) that would provide such exceptions is not yet defined.
Another agenda item is a proposal on a copyright consortium for managing books for visually impaired persons.
Several committees of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) will meet this week. One of them is called to assess a draft legal framework on plant variety protection from the African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO). The draft legislation has drawn ire from civil society who charge that it is detrimental to small farmers and who argue that ARIPO does not have legitimacy to become a UPOV member.
After two weeks of drafting articles of potential international instruments aimed at protecting traditional knowledge and folklore from misappropriation, World Intellectual Property Organization delegates agreed to forward the revised texts for the consideration of the General Assembly in September.
Google has successfully defended its Google Glass name in an internet domain dispute in Europe, reported by the World Intellectual Property Organization today.
The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the European Union recently approved a compromise proposal by the Greek presidency, setting up a decision on the EU Council’s signing later this month of the Marrakesh Treaty on access to books for blind and visually impaired persons. However, some EU members raised that the treaty lies within a shared competency between the EU and its member states.
In a new book presented last week at the World Intellectual Property Organisation, an optimistic British economist suggests a shift in the way we think about global development by overcoming income as a unique indicator to evaluate worldwide progress.
World Intellectual Property Organization delegates this week are trying to refine draft articles relating to the protection of traditional cultural expressions (folklore) that could form the basis for an international instrument. Delegates also are considering the connection of the issue to traditional knowledge.