Original news and analysis on international IP policy
With the commercial internet now in its early twenties, stakeholders are finding themselves at a crossroads, unsure whether to allow business as usual or embrace a more regulated regime. Intellectual property, with its penchant for protection, is one of those areas where the tug-of-war is most evident, and seemingly caught in the middle are internet intermediaries.
South-east Asia's economic juggernaut Singapore will hold a public consultation on a proposal to liberalise its patent law in a bid to cement its position as the intellectual property (IP) hub in the region.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are working to stage a diplomatic conference on the adoption of a new industrial design treaty at the earliest opportunity. The treaty, at the minimum, could harmonise certain aspects in design law, an area in intellectual property marked by stark differences in national procedures.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has waded into the global debates over access to safe drinking water, with an upcoming workshop on patents and water purification technologies.
International trademark applications filed in 2011 reached a record high of 42,270 applications and a year-on-year growth of 6.5 per cent as businesses resolved to protect their brands despite last year's shaky economic situation, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reported today.
A new paper from a Yale Law lecturer has outlined some general principles that governments must consider when imposing liability for internet intermediaries amid the lack of an international law covering online third-party liability.
A recent study has proposed at least two measures to address the gnawing problems in Europe's copyright levy system, which is being implemented differently in 22 countries in the region.
The number of cybersquatting cases filed with the arbitration body of the World Intellectual Property Organization reached a record high in 2011 with 2,764 cases filed by trademark owners, the UN agency reported today. WIPO also expressed alarm over the potential impact on cybersquatting of a move underway to add more generic domain names to the internet.
The World Intellectual Property Organization today announced that it had set a new record for filings of patents at the international level in 2011, in what the UN agency attributed to a focus on innovation. Patents filed under the WIPO-managed Patent Cooperation Treaty shot up more than 10 per cent last year in the fastest growth since 2005, and a Chinese company took top honour for most filings.
It was obviously a moment of some embarrassment for the US Department of Commerce and the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
A training programme on intellectual property organised by the United States with several partners to be held in Africa in April has been postponed under pressure to make the programme more transparent and representative of all stakeholders.
High-level policymakers, industry leaders, law professors and other stakeholders came together in Geneva recently to discuss the how the role of intellectual property is evolving when it comes to developing, protecting, and providing medicines.