Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The director of the Library of Alexandria, Egypt, invited to speak about innovation and food security at the World Intellectual Property Organization last week, said science should reach small farmers in order face the challenge of global food security and increase agricultural yields. He also called for the IP regime to be tailored to serve that purpose.
Delegates meeting this week to assess how the World Intellectual Property Organization is instilling a development dimension in its activity had to tackle a marathon session with a large agenda, many projects to assess, and some issues regarding the mandate of the committee. Divergence remained on the agenda of the week but countries agreed on some items, including the convening of a conference on intellectual property and development in 2013.
The development dimension of the World Intellectual Property Organization is under scrutiny by member states this week, and after a smooth start and a general commitment to work cooperatively and constructively, discussions have demonstrated strongly held positions, leaving countries to try and find common ground.
The Philippine Senate, the upper house of the country's bicameral congress, has approved a bill that seeks to put teeth into its copyright law as the island nation fights a bad reputation as one of the Asian states with high piracy rates. But it also seeks to protect fair use of copyrighted material.
After a difficult session last May, the World Intellectual Property Organization committee examining the development dimension of WIPO activities will reconvene next week with a substantive agenda. In particular, delegates will assess progress of ongoing projects, consider reports on finished projects, and consider the committee's future work. They also will consider a conference on IP and development.
Baku, Azerbaijan - The need to bring all stakeholders together to discuss the future of copyright appears to have gotten a push from this year’s UN-led Internet Governance Forum.
South-South trade and investment is growing and could lead to greater technology sharing but some countries are left out, particularly least developed countries, due to lack of technological capacity, according to a new United Nations report that also looked at intellectual property in the context of the rising South-South collaboration. Separately, UNCTAD also has begun consultations on joint work with the World Intellectual Property Organization.
The United States has made new exemptions to a provision in its copyright law that prohibits the circumvention of technological measures to gain access to protected digital works.
This week, members of a consortium sponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organization to facilitate research in neglected diseases celebrated the first anniversary of the initiative and claimed an expanding membership and several research collaborations or agreements.
A new petition circulating worldwide urges the delay of a suddenly fast-moving proposal to create a Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization (PAIPO). The delay effort – which seeks an open discussion of the proposal to make it more tailored to local African needs - comes just weeks before African Union representatives meet to consider its adoption.
Ted Shapiro, a long-time copyright industry advocate in the European legal trenches for the Motion Picture Association, will leave at year's end for a private law firm in Brussels.
After three days of mostly informal discussions and a set of succeeding draft texts of what could become a treaty for visually impaired persons, World Intellectual Property Organization members tonight closed discussions with yet another version of the text showing agreement in some areas and work still to be done.