ISOC, IETF Promote Open Standardisation, Consider What’s “Open”?

Berlin - Open standardisation processes, their problems and their value for economy and society were the subject of discussion at a conference on 17 April at the German Ministry of Economy and Technology in Berlin.

US Digital Public Library Launches Free Online Access

The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has launched a beta version of its website today, which aims to offer free public access to content of all libraries, universities, and museums in the United States.

Last Drafting Effort On WIPO Treaty For The Blind Before Diplomatic Conference

In an effort to clean up a draft treaty text providing limitations and exceptions to copyright for blind and visually impaired persons, World Intellectual Property Organization members will meet this week for intense drafting sessions. The text, once cleaned, is expected to be sent to a top-level treaty negotiation in June.

Greek Gene Bank’s Struggle Indicative Of Changing Times

Gene banks holding plant genetic material worldwide play a crucial role for future agricultural practices and research and development in the field, especially as people rediscover the importance of their dependence on the land due to the financial situation. The present financial crisis may generate opportunities and losses. This can be illustrated by the Gene Bank of Greece, an institution traditionally rich in genetic material and of global interest.

WIPO Delegates Progressing On Once-Moribund Broadcasting Treaty

A meeting meant to advance discussions on a treaty to protect the rights of broadcasting organisations held last week at the World Intellectual Property Organization yielded substantive results, according to the meeting chair. However, civil society remains cautious about potential side effects of such an instrument, while countries appear to have divergent views on the practicalities of the treaty.

The Novartis Decision: A Tale Of Developing Countries, IP, And The Role Of The Judiciary

Ahmed Abdel Latif says of the Novartis case: The ruling is also a revealing tale about the changing role of developing countries in the global intellectual property landscape and the growing influence of the judiciary in these countries in the implementation of international intellectual property rules.

EU General Court Clears Copyright Collecting Societies Of Antitrust Charges

European copyright collecting societies are not engaged in a cartel but the European Commission was correct in finding that some of the provisions in their reciprocal representation should be barred, the EU General Court (GC) said in a 12 April ruling. The case, which pits the International Confederation of Societies and Authors (CISAC) and 24 of its members against the EC, could be appealed to the EU Court of Justice (ECJ). CISAC said the decision proves its contention that it was not engaged in a conspiracy to restrict competition, and that it has already done away with the complained-of clauses.

Separately, the ECJ has been asked to tackle several key issues in a German matter involving standards-essential patents encumbered with a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing agreement.

Is ICANN Policymaking Around Its Bottom-Up Multistakeholder Process?

This week, registry, registrar and user constituencies at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) complained about what they saw as deviations from the bottom-up multistakeholder process by late additions made to policies or by processes never being laid out to the community for review.